


The Grace of God

by sirtalen



Series: The Terinu AU Tales [1]
Category: Terinu
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 20:38:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 43,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10543990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirtalen/pseuds/sirtalen
Summary: The crew of the Treona fall into an alternate universe where all of the good within them has been horribly twisted.Except for Lance. He's about the same.





	1. Chapter 1

“Lieutenant, what's the status on that coffle of pirates?” Blake asked, pausing in the cruiser _Suhayar's_ gangway. Her ship was docked at a refueling station, taking on badly needed supplies after their latest patrol.   
  
Her cousin grinned at her. “Already offloaded. Once they're deloused and scanned, the ones that have already been ID'd and tried _in absentia_ will be going up on the auction web tomorrow. Wanna watch the show and see what your combat bonus is going to be?”   
  
Blake made a brief face. “No thanks. I've got better things to do than watch Scum on Parade. I need to oversee our repairs.” That last action had pushed the _Suyahar's_ crew to the limit. The pirate galleon proved to have good legs, and Blake's ship had given her a long stern chase, trying to catch up to the galleon before it either slipped over the Ardactavian Hive's border or managed to hook up with more of its kind to gain an advantage in battle. But in the end her ship had won, and the flights of who knew how many merchant vessels would be just a bit safer, at least for a little while.   
  
“Come on, Lee,” Lance pushed, “you at least deserve a round at the bar for what we did. You can join me and the others at the officer's lounge tonight.”   
  
“I've got work to do,” she said, then looked at him a bit more sternly after an enlisted man passed, “and you need to remember how to properly address me.”   
  
Lance rolled his eyes. “Sorry, _Captain_.”   
  
“Lance,” she said in a warning tone.   
  
He gave her an exasperated look. “We're cousins, L--, Captain.”   
  
“That's when we're home at Vonnie's,” she reminded him. “Out here I'm a ship's captain and you're my subordinate.” Blake let her expression soften. “I can't let anything get by that might smack of favoritism towards you, Lieutenant. That's a guaranteed morale killer, and out here on the front lines we can't afford that. Not on a ship this small.”   
  
He nodded, looking a bit more thoughtful. Quite an unusual, if welcome, expression on him. “Understood, Captain. Still, we'd all appreciate you joining us for that beer.”   
  
She smiled. “I'll take it under serious consideration, Lieutenant. Dismissed.”   
  
Lance snapped her a mostly regulation salute and went on his way onto the dock, while Blake trudged back aboard her ship and headed towards her office. Whatever post-mission fatigue she was feeling quickly dispersed when the door slid open to reveal her father, Admiral Erwin Blake, sitting at her desk. She snapped to attention and was immediately greeted with an “At ease, Captain Blake, and shut the hatch.”   
  
“Hello, Admiral,” she greeted. “How the hell did you manage to slip aboard without me hearing about the commotion?”   
  
Her father let out a rare grin. “Magic. That and I threatened to demote the marine guarding the cargo lock if he let the word out before I had a chance to see you. How are you doing, Leeza? How'd the mission go? You look like hell.” He stepped around the desk to give a very non-regulation hug, which she returned happily.   
  
“Nothing twelve hours of sleep, a hot shower and a carafe of tea wouldn't cure,” she told him, sitting on the edge of her desk while her father down again in her chair. “It was a tough fight. I might have have let that galleon go.  She was a bit larger of a target than we were set to fight. Except that we pinged her just as she was pulling away from the hulk of a gypsy ship, and I knew there was a possibility of hostages aboard her. My crew knew that too, and they were happy to run double shifts just for the chance to nail those nova damned bastards. We got her in the end though. Rescued fifteen survivors from the freighter and captured almost all of the galleon's crew alive.”   
  
“How did Lance do?” he asked.   
  
“Good,” she said. “I'll admit he was more like an overgrown puppy than a fresh from the academy Marine when he first came on board, but he's fitting in well. Major Talbot, my Marine detachment's commander, spoke highly of his work during the boarding action. Lance managed to blow out a bulkhead in the brig section that let us scoop up the hostages and get them to safety before the pirates could react and use them as a bargaining chip.”   
  
“Good. Very good,” her father said. “That's one less pirate in the void for us to worry about.”   
  
“One down, a few hundred more to go.” She waved away the praise and gave the Admiral her most penetrating look. “With respect, you didn't come all the way from Luna Station headquarters to an outback refueling station just to thank me for scragging one pirate ship, sir.”   
  
“No, I didn't, Captain,” he said, straightening in his chair. “I've got a new assignment for you. I'm taking you off patrol duty and assigning you an additional two squads of marines to the _Suyahar's_ complement to bring it up to a full platoon. You're going to be commanding the lead ship in a three ship raid.”   
  
“A raid? Where?” she asked, coming to full attention. “What's the target?”   
  
Her father touched a control at her desk. She heard a slight hum as the office's anti-monitoring screens snapped up, preventing all electronic communications from entering or leaving the room. “Captain Blake, the information you are about to receive is of the highest classification. It is not to be discussed outside this room. I do not exaggerate when I say that failure to heed that warning may lead to the Galactic Sapiens Alliance's destruction.”   
  
“Understood, sir,” she replied, her mind racing. Blake was well aware of her rank in the hierarchy of shipmasters in the GSA's fleet. Though she was arguably one of the youngest captains in the navy, she didn't hold any illusions about being the most experienced. To be handed the responsibility of leading a fleet, however small, either smacked of pure nepotism on her father's part, which would be a first...   
  
...or something so deadly serious that he felt it could only be handled by someone he knew more closely than any other officer in the fleet.   
  
The admiral touched another control, and a map of the GSA frontier appeared on the office's central monitor, focusing rapidly on a single star system, then just one planet. “You'll be going to Bolt Hole, a planet on the far edge of the outback, near the Ardactavian Hive. It's a pirate haven, a failed colony that's now the home very every smuggler and pirate scum looking to offload hot cargo. It's also where, if our intelligence holds, Mavra Chan herself will be arriving in less than a week, aboard her flagship, the _Celestial Marauder_.”   
  
Blake whistled. “You don't think small, do you, sir? Chan has been harder than a bloody snark to catch.”   
  
“Chan isn't your target. If you can take her out, excellent, but she isn't the focus of this mission. Your job is to catch _him_.”   
  
A face appeared on the screen. It belonged to a gray faced alien, though not a Creo. No Creo ever had features that fine, nor pointed ears or a such a long tail with a large spade on the end. It was humanoid though, wearing black leathers and a dark expression.   
  
“Who is that?” she asked. “He looks like a kid.”   
  
“By our estimates he's somewhere between fourteen and sixteen,” her father said, “but don't let that fool you. He's Mavra Chan's personal assassin and bodyguard.”   
  
“What species is he? Some new race we just discovered?”   
  
Her father's face turned grim. “No, a very old one. One the Terran Confederation had thought safely dead and buried. Your assignment is to make sure it stays that way. Otherwise, I do not exaggerate when I say that the entire GSA may be placed at risk if you fail.”   
  
She stood up and gave him a careful nod. “When do you need me to launch, Admiral?”   
  
He smiled again. “That's my girl.”  
  
* * *  
  
Blake leaned back in her acceleration seat, tightening the buckles of her restraint harness over her spacesuit as she listened to the multitude of voices of her crew in the _Ari Suyayar’s_ combat information center. A compact room in the center of the light cruiser’s hull, it was the brains at the center of a complex nervous system of sensors, weapons, shields and drive systems, all directed by Blake as the she closed in on her prey. _Illusion, all illusion,_ she reminded herself. The feeling of omnipotence that the room could sometimes bring would be shattered easily enough if the _Suhayar_ took a hit that disabled its internal power, leaving her trapped, blind and deaf in a sealed box with nowhere to run, waiting to see if the power came back up or the hull breached and exposed her fragile human body to the vacuum.   
  
“We’ve still got a good track on the _Celestial Marauder_ , Captain,” her sensor officer reported from his station. “They’re making no signs that they’ve detected us yet.” Which was as it should be. The _Suhayar’s_ sensors were superior, at least in theory, to ones carried by Mavra Chan’s flagship, allowing it to follow her outside of the pirate’s own detection range. Assuming she hadn’t gained an upgrade from some black-market supplier, or perhaps even the Ardactavian Hive.   
  
“Very well,” she said. “First Officer, what is the status on the _Wilson_ and the _Namatjira_?” The other two ships in Blake’s little fleet were sisters in the same class as the _Suhayar_ , larger than destroyers, faster and more lightly armed and armoured than a heavy cruiser or battleship. She seriously doubted that the fact they were all named after the Three Children was a coincidence on her father’s part when they’d been assigned to her. It was a subtle bit of inspiration for the crews of all three vessels, to keep them focused on their task. The message was clear: _This mission is important, boys and girls, be on alert._   
  
“ _Wilson_ and  </i>Namatjira</i> report they’re in position, Captain,” her XO told her, an older Galen male who had served under her since she’d first been given command of her own ship three years ago. Both cruisers had warped in ahead of the _Suhayar_ , along the course the _Marauder_ was most likely to take as she made for orbit around Bolt Hole. It was Blake’s intention to intercept the pirate vessel well before Chan could reach her goal and potentially hook up with other pirates who might come to aid her defense. Blake’s own ship would act as the hunter, flushing the _Marauder_ out, right into the path of the other Navy vessels, then come in from behind to close the trap.   
  
“Very well. Notify the _Wilson_ and the _Namatjira_ that we’re beginning our attack. Launch fighters Ready One and Two, and bring Three and Four to the linear accelerator stations to follow. Increase our acceleration to 90% of maximum and unsheathe all missile batteries and cannons. We are now at Red Alert!”   
  
She heard the echo of the alert klaxon sound throughout the ship, as the CinC followed out her orders. There was a muffled _thunk, thunk_ as the first two fighters flew clear of the launch bay, and the blips of their IFF transponders suddenly appeared on the CinC’s main situational display in the central holotank.   
  
“Ready One and Two report successful launch, Captain,” her XO reported. “Launch Control reports Three and Four are moving up to the accelerators.”   
  
“Very well, First Officer. What’s the status on the boarding party?”   
  
Her XO checked his board briefly. “Major Talbot reports they are boarding the shuttle now. They’ll be ready to launch as soon as Three and Four are away.”   
  
“Good, good,” Blake said, resisting the urge to tap her leg in nervous anticipation. The planned boarding and capture of the _Celestial Marauder’s_ crew was to be handled by the _Wilson_ and the _Namatjira_ , with Blake’s own vessel acting as backup. For probably not the last time she silently cursed herself for agreeing to allow Lance to be assigned to her ship. As a relative she could have refused, on the grounds of potential favoritism, or the very real possibility of them both being killed in the same combat action. But she’d finally given in to her Aunt Vonnie’s insistence that “Someone has to grab that pup behind the ears and give him a shake if he gets out of line.”   
  
Well, it wasn’t as if it was _likely_ he was going to get involved in this particular scrap. The two platoons aboard the _Wilson_ and _Namatjira_ ought to be more than enough to take out a crew of scruffy pirates, never mind whoever was supposedly leading them. _Even better, if we take Chan successfully, one of the most feared pirates around, the rest of those space rats are going to be running scared for a long time._   
  
First things first though. She noted the closing distance between themselves and the _Marauder_. The fighters were closer still, but they had the advantage of greater stealth protection from their smaller size and power output. There was another _thunk, thunk_ from below, as the remaining pair of fighters launched, and her XO reported that the other two ships had also deployed their own complement successfully. “All right then, First Officer, _light ‘em up!_ ” she ordered.   
  
The data in the situational display flickered and reset itself, as percentages and guesses on the truth by the _Suhayar’s_ battle computer became dead certainties, as the cruiser’s active sensors went live and painted the _Marauder_. The pirate ship’s reaction was immediate, as her own sensors went active and her engine output suddenly increased dramatically, trying to get some distance between her and the hunters behind her.   
  
“She’s heading right towards Bolt Hole,” Blake’s XO noted with quiet satisfaction.   
  
“And right into the _Wilson_ and _Namatjira’s_ teeth,” Blake agreed, keeping her eyes on the situational display. “Tell our fighters to keep their distance. We want to keep herding her. No point at putting themselves at risk to inflict a few pinpricks.”   
  
“Aye, Captain.”   
  
The minutes dragged as the _Marauder_ began to lengthen the gap between them. _That’s right. We’re just a dumb GSAN cruiser that lit our sensors up before we were in position, too eager to get a kill. We’re idiots. You’ve got enough legs to get to Bolt Hole and safety well before us._ “Status on our missiles, First Officer?” she asked.   
  
“Ready to fire, Captain. _Wilson_ and _Namatjira_ report they are receiving our targeting data clearly.”   
  
“Then the order is: All ships, fire missiles on the _Marauder_!”   
  
Her ship’s frame rattled as the smaller linear accelerators mounted on her dorsal and ventral turrets spat out their missiles, the cylinders lighting their own drive engines the moment they were clear of the _Suhayar._ The pirate vessel’s reaction was gratifying, as it suddenly discovered it faced not one, but three armed ships, and it vectored its acceleration ninety degrees from its previous course, trying to outrace the deadly automated predators tracking it down. _Outnumbered, outmaneuvered and outgunned. What are you going to do now, pirate?_ Blake thought savagely.   
  
“The _Marauder_ is launching missiles at the _Wilson_ and _Namatjira_ , Captain,” her Sensor Officer reported. “Nothing coming in our direction.”   
  
“She's trying to blow through the fire and head for safety,” Blake guessed.   
  
“Both ships report they are diverting their fighters to counter-battery duty,” her XO noted.   
  
“Very well,” Blake noted. “How much time until our missiles intercept the _Marauder_?”   
  
“Thirty seconds.”   
  
Blake kept her eyes focused on the missiles' track, as the laws of physics made their inevitable impact a certainty. There was simply no way for a manned ship that was properly targeted to avoid a missile attack. Fragile flesh and bone could never match the bone crushing maneuvering and G's of acceleration that an unmanned smart impact weapon could reach.   
  
“ _Marauder_ is launching counter-battery missiles, and mounting directed energy defense,” the sensor officer reported. Then a moment later he added, “Estimate twenty-five percent of missiles destroyed.”   
  
“Fifteen seconds until impact,” her XO said.   
  
“Forty-five percent destroyed.”   
  
“Eight seconds to impact. _Wilson_ and _Namatjira_ report they're countering the enemy missiles without difficulty.”   
  
“Sixty-five percent destroyed.”   
  
“Impact in four... three... two... one. Missiles have struck,” her XO said coolly. On the situation display the track of the missiles disappeared as the sensor data on the _Marauder_ became choppy and incomplete as it was surrounded by a debris field of its own making.   
  
“Enemy ship has ceased acceleration and is tumbling, Captain,” the Sensor Officer reported. Around the CinC, the other crewman at their stations let out a spontaneous cheer.   
  
“Belay that,” Blake ordered, after a few moments. “Comm Officer, send the following message to the _Marauder_ , 'Surrender now and prepare to be boarded.'”   
  
“With pleasure, Captain,” her Comm Officer said, grinning.   
  
Then the Sensor Officer sat up straight in his seat. “Captain! Two new contacts appearing, close in to the _Wilson!_ One fighter, one galleon sized vessel!”   
  
“Where the hell they come from? What's their identification?” Blake demanded. She felt her heart began to race as her mind whirled, _Where did they come from, how did we miss them?!_  
  
“Fighter appears to be a Vulpine _Sleek Wing_ , the galleon looks like...” the Sensor Officer paused, looking confused.   
  
“What's the identity of that galleon, SO?” Blake demanded.   
  
Her Sensor Officer looked up at her, helplessly. “It's the _Marauder!_ A second one!”  
  
“Impossible! She’s a unique design!” Blake told him. “Nav! Divert our course to intercept the new bogie. Comm, send orders to the _Namatijira_ to do the same. Weapons Officer, ready missiles to defend the _Wilson_.”   
  
“She’s too close to the galleon, Captain, less than two-hundred fifty meters,” her weapons officer reported. “We fire on her and the debris field will cut the _Wilson_ apart.”   
  
Blake’s hands clenched into helpless fists. “Belay that then. Engineering, redline the engines! Weapons Officer, make ready to hot shot the lasers and PPC cannons. We’ll burn them out after a few shots but we might be able to drive off the bogie before that happens. Sensor Officer, how the _fragg_ did you miss those two ships?”   
  
The man looked stricken. “Captain, I didn’t, I swear. They literally appeared out of nowhere. One moment the _Wilson_ was alone and the next minute they were there!”   
  
“The _Wilson_ and the new bogie are engaged, Captain, and two of her fighters have been destroyed,” her XO reported, pointing to the situation display. “The new _Marauder_ closing in. She’s too close now for the _Wilson_ to fire her own missiles.”   
  
Blake bit her lip, feeling helpless as the battle played itself out. “Like I said, the design unique. She’s probably angling to…”   
  
The Comm Officer spoke up, “ _Wilson_ reports she’s been rammed amidships, near their engineering compartments. Power to her weapons have been cut.”   
  
“Very well, XO, how long until we’re in range to help the _Wilson_?” she asked.   
  
“Twenty three minutes, less than fifteen for our fighters, Captain,” he said, “by that time it’ll be all over.”   
  
“ _Wilson_ reports she had boarders in her engineering section,” Comm said. “I also have a message from the _Sleek Wing_ fighter. He claims that he is an independent Vulpine mercenary pilot and not part of Chan’s forces.”   
  
“Confirm, the _Sleek Wing_ is firing on the second _Marauder_ ,” the Sensor Officer reported.   
  
“What the frell is he doing there anyway?” Blake asked aloud. “Very well. Comm, inform our own fighters that they are not to fire upon the _Sleek Wing_.”   
  
“Aye, Captain.”   
  
Five minutes later the Vulpine fighter was still trying to harass the second _Marauder_ , while the first one had managed to restore power to its engines and was limping away slowly as the _Suhayar_ and the _Namatjira_ raced to engage her mysterious sister ship. Two minutes after that the _Wilson’s_ comm and telemetry feeds ceased transmitting.   
  
“The second _Marauder_ is disengaging from the _Wilson_ ,” the SO reported. “She’s accelerating…” The corner of the situation display where the _Wilson_ and the pirate ship were marked suddenly became an angry cloud of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of debris tracks.   
  
“ _Wilson_ appears to have suffered a massive explosion aft,” her XO said a moment later, looking as shocked as any Galen could manage.   
  
“She’s broken into two pieces and is launching lifeboats, Captain,” the SO said. “The second _Marauder_ is accelerating to meet up with the first one. The _Sleek Wing_ has ceased acceleration and is holding position near the remains of the _Wilson_.”   
  
“Very well,” Blake said softly. The normal chatter of the CinC had become muted, as the magnitude of the disaster became apparent to the officers and crew. “First Officer, have the _Namatjira_ meet us at the remains of the _Wilson_ and launch boats to retrieve survivors. Order Ready One and Two to follow and track the two pirate vessels for as long as they can, until they come in range of Bolt Hole’s defenses.” Her voice rose in growing anger. “And get that damned Vulpine fighter in our dock. I want to have a talk with her pilot and find out what _exactly_ is going on.”   
  
* * *   
  
Twenty minutes later Blake’s ship had reached the shattered remains of the _Wilson_ and had attached grappling bots to the larger fore section, where the most survivors were to be found. As both her crew and the _Namatjira’s_ raced to recover the wounded and the distressed, the Vulpine fighter was brought onboard. Busy with coordinating the rescue efforts, she reacted with irritation when Lance’s voice came over her suit’s comm.   
  
“Lee, I mean Captain, you’d better get down to the flight deck,” he said, sounding off-balance. “We’ve got, ah… _situation_ here with the _Sleek Wing_ and her crew.”   
  
“Lieutenant, I do not have the time right now,” she snapped. “If they’re giving you trouble, stun ‘em and stick them in brig.   
  
“Believe me, Lee, you’re going to want to make time,” Lance said. “I’m serious.”   
  
Blake muttered a curse under her breath and said, “First Officer, you have the bridge.” Then she made her way down the gangways to the flight deck, the lifts being reserved for the movement of wounded survivors from the _Wilson_ up to the sickbay. Doffing her suit’s helmet, she found Lance standing beside what had to be the _Sleek Wing’s_ pilot, a sandy furred Vulpine wearing a gaudy green and gold flight uniform. Lance, on the other hand, was definitely out of uniform, wearing a civilian spacesuit instead of the standard Marine battle armour that he should have been wearing as part of a boarding team.   
  
“All right, Lance,” she said to him. “What is so flaming important that you had to pull me out of the CinC to handle it, and why are you out of uniform?”   
  
Lance, who had gotten a distinctly pole-axed expression as she pulled her helmet off, remained silent. The Vulpine however, merely raised his eyebrows and said, “I think you’re speaking to the wrong Lt. Freeman, Captain.”   
  
“Behind you, Lee,” she heard Lance say, and turned around to find herself facing her cousin again, this time dressed in his armour.   
  
“What the _fragg_?” she exclaimed, twisting her head to try and keep both Lances in sight.   
  
“Better get yourself a coffee, Leeza,” the first Lance said, “this is going to be a long story.”  
  
* * *  
  
Leeza woke up lying facedown on a sleeping pad, her eyes blurring from the pounding headache of post-stunner shock. She swallowed bile back down into her throat, thankful that she’d had a light breakfast before she and Terinu had climbed into their purloined _Sniper_ just… oh, how long had she been out? She rolled over, blinking up at the dull red light in the ceiling. It was a method of sensory deprivation, she remembered from some long ago conversation with Lance about military interrogation techniques. Combined with heavy soundproofing, in a few hours it could send a prisoner into hallucinations if they couldn’t figure out a way to keep their mind occupied.   
  
_How did I get here?_ She tried to move past the pounding pain in her head, trying to think. Terinu had come with her to examine the gravity anomaly they had come across, not so much out of scientific curiosity as to get out of Lance’s way. Then the bloody thing had _moved_ , swallowing their fighter and blowing out the electronics. She had spent a frantic two hours trying to bring them online again, before the _Celestial Marauder_ had suddenly appeared in front of the fighter’s windscreen. Their attempt to escape, before the pirate ship had snagged them with grappling bots, had been short but terrifying. Then they had been dragged out of the cockpit and Leeza had been coshed on the back of the head by a shock stick, judging from the tender, burned spot at the base of her skull.   
  
_Captured again,_ she thought irritably. It seemed to be becoming a habit for her. _Get your head out of your ass. Teri has been captured too. You need to get him out of here and find some help. If Mavra Chan followed us through that anomaly then she’s a threat to **this** universe too. _  
  
She patted herself down. Her sidearm was gone of course, along with her datapad, circuit tester and a ridiculously expensive Swiss Army knife that Vonnie given her three Christmases ago. They had also taken her sock, boots and belt, in return locking a tracking cuff on her right wrist. Depending on the model it would either shriek an alarm, inject a sedative, or perhaps even explode with a shaped charge that would take off her hand if she tried to leave her cell or attempt to remove it. Leeza didn’t care to guess which model Mavra Chan preferred.   
  
After finding and using the cell’s foldaway toilet and sink, measuring the length of her cell in paces (one and a half by three), and pounding on the walls (soundproofed, as she suspected), Leeza had exhausted the limits of amusements she could produce in her new quarters. She sat down again on the sleeping pad, leaning against the wall and trying not to fall asleep. The dark red light seemed to induce lethargy, or at least she hoped it was the light and not a concussion. At any rate sleeping would be the wrong thing to do. She needed to try and come up with a plan. Terinu being recaptured by Chan was the worst possible thing that could happen to him, and as long as she was in this cell the pirate warlord could use her as leverage to force the young boy to do her bidding.   
  
Despite her resolution to not sleep, Leeza found that she’d nodded off when the door to the cell suddenly slid back, blinding her temporarily as the bright light from the corridor flooded in. She blinked and shaded her eyes, as a tall, rangy, angular figure entered and squatted down beside her.   
  
“Hello there, Captain Blake,” Mavra Chan greeted, grabbing her chin. “Now what’s the daughter of Admiral Erwin Blake doing all the way out here in the backbeyond, in a dinky little fighter and with my Ferin?”   
  
_Captain?_ Maybe she was referring to Leeza’s brief career as the _Treona’s_ shipmaster, though more properly she’d been the group den mother for all the time she spent playing referee between Lance and Terinu. “Sightseeing,” she replied.   
  
“Cute,” Chan replied, then smacked her hard across the face, growling, “I don’t do cute, Captain. I want to know what you were doing out there, where you found that Ferin, and how much your daddy admiral knows about them.”   
  
Leeza touched her lip where Chan had struck her, tasting blood in her mouth. Maybe she did have a concussion, because she certainly wasn’t tracking where the conversation was going. She tried to focus on the pirate’s face. Somewhere along the way she must gotten some plastic surgery, for the scar on her face was gone and her obviously artificial eye had been replaced by a more normal looking prosthesis. “I’m not telling you anything until I know Terinu is safe. Let me see him.”   
  
“Why, that would be my pleasure.” Chan turned and called through the open door. “Terinu, why don’t you introduce yourself to the Captain here?”   
  
Terinu walked through the door. Except that it wasn’t the Terinu that had been sitting beside her in the _Sniper_. This boy walked with confidence, not her young, emotionally broken ward’s customary wariness. His hair was cut short except a half dozen long, thin braids wrapped in silver wire and ending in sharp looking arrowheads. He wore tight black leather pants from which hung a plasma pistol and wore a sort of bolero shirt/jacket that left his well muscled abdomen exposed. He looked down on Leeza with an expression of cool amusement. “Hello there, Captain Blake,” he said, while Mavra Chan stood up and rested her hand on his shoulder, giving Leeza a Cheshire Cat grin.   
  
_Oh, right, alternate universe,_ she thought dizzily. _Oh, fragg._  
  
  
* * *  
  
“Alternate universes?” Blake repeated with disbelief, then sipped her tea. After making sure that the recovery operation could proceed without her direct supervision, she had pulled Brushtail, Lance and the other Lance into a conference room for a debriefing.   
  
“I realize the concept is difficult to believe,” Brushtail continued. “I myself find it amazing. Nevertheless it’s happened to us at least three times now, and I fear it’s becoming a habit.”   
  
“So in your universe there’s another Leeza Blake, captain of another _Ari Suhayar_?” she asked.   
  
“Ah, not exactly,” the other Lance said. “She’s a civilian on our side. Got into engineering as a contractor for the Navy, at least until Uncle Erwin… um…” He closed his mouth and put on a pleasant smile, in exactly the same expression the real Lance usually took just before dropping some unpleasant news on Aunt Vonnie.   
  
“Care to expand on that, Lieutenant?” Blake prodded.   
  
Brushtail cleared his throat. “Our Leeza has a somewhat… _difficult_ relationship with her father. I don’t think entering the Navy was ever a very attractive career option for her. Even less so these days.”   
  
“My father is a great man.”   
  
Now it was Brushtail’s turn to smile, which seemed to involve most of his teeth, tightly clenched. “He is very influential, yes. But to return to the subject at hand, our Leeza, along with… a good friend of ours, was in a _Sniper_ that we had, er, acquired, and was using to try and scan a gravity anomaly that was similar to what we had encountered prior to our first run in with an alternate dimension. As best as Lance and I were able to determine, she got a bit too close and was sucked into your universe. Naturally we were frantic to follow, but it was over a week before we managed to get a sensor lock on the thing. It seems to fade in and out in a very alarming manner. Unfortunately we managed to find it again at the exact moment that Mavra Chan caught up with us. I accelerated towards the anomaly, she followed, and we both found ourselves in the middle of your action against your universe’s _Celestial Marauder_.” Apologetically, he added, “I am sorry that I was unable to prevent her from destroying your companion vessel.”   
  
“One little fighter against a heavily armed galleon is unfavorable odds at best,” Blake told him. “I’m surprised you survived against her.”   
  
“Her ship was more interested in taking out the _Wilson_ , fortunately for me, and unfortunately for that poor Navy crew” Brushtail said. “But now we find ourselves in a rather deadly quandary. Attempting to rescue our friends from Mavra Chan is a difficult enough task. Attempting to rescue them from _two_ Mavra Chans is going to be very tricky indeed.”   
  
“I’m willing to help you on that matter, and I hope you’ll be willing to help me,” Blake said. “Our mission revolved around either capturing or neutralizing a certain member of the _Marauder’s_ crew. When I had three ships against one galleon, the odds were easily in our favor. Now I find myself with two ships, going against two galleons, both of which are in orbit around a planet hostile to GSA law. I could back off and send for reinforcements, but that runs the risk of Chan, both of them, getting away. I need to take her out, take both of them out now, not just for the sake of my mission but for the honor of all of the _Wilson’s_ crew that lost their lives in her assault.”   
  
Rufus and the other Lance shared a worried glance. “Ah, Lee, I mean Captain Blake,” Lance began, “the fellow you’re trying to take out. Your orders didn’t happen to come directly from Uncle Irwin himself, did they?”   
  
“They did,” she admitted.   
  
“And they didn’t happen to specifically target a short grey alien kid with horns on his head and a frelling enormous tail, did they?”   
  
“That’s restricted information, Lieutenant,” she said, “and you aren’t on the need to know list.”   
  
“Figured that,” he said. The other Lance turned to his companion, “Ah, Ru, I think its going to be at least a few days before we can get any kind of rescue operation going anyway, seeing as this universe’s _Marauder_ won’t be going anywhere soon, and Captain Blake has to plan her strategy. So maybe it might be best if we looked for some allies.”   
  
“What sort of allies?” the real Lance asked.   
  
The other Lance shrugged. “Well, if I’ve got a double here, and Leeza does, it only stands to reason that Rufus does as well. If he’s anything like ours I’m sure he’d be willing to help.”   
  
“Absolutely not,” Blake said firmly. “Neither of you are leaving this ship until this situation is resolved.”   
  
“I beg your pardon, Captain Blake,” Rufus said carefully, “but I don’t follow your reasoning. Are you saying that we’re under arrest?”   
  
“We are in the middle of a combat action. I can’t let a civilian loose with information about it, especially this close to Chan and her allies. Furthermore, I don’t care what universe your particular Lance comes from, he is still a military officer and subject to military discipline. If he leaves I would consider it going AWOL and act appropriately.”   
  
“Oh, _come on_ , Lee,” the other Lance said. “Stop being a bloody stiff neck like your old man! You have to see that you’re going to need help on this op, and you’re too far from headquarters to get another Navy ship in. Letting Rufus and I go is your best bet!”   
  
“I will do no such thing,” she said, glaring at him. What the hell was wrong with her family in his universe that he would have the gall to speak about the Admiral like that?   
  
“Very well,” Brushtail said, standing up and giving her a short bow. “You may keep Lance about, as he is a Navy officer. I, however, am leaving to find help.”   
  
Blake stood up and leaned over the table in his direction. “No, you are not. If you argue the point I will have you escorted to the brig, rather than the guest quarters.”   
  
Brushtail smiled again, and this time there was absolutely nothing friendly in it. “Captain Blake, I am the Viscount Ru-ofanius Brushtail, of the House of Brushtail. I _am_ leaving your ship to find help. If you chose to argue the point, or attempt to restrict me in any way, it will be considered a diplomatic incident in the eyes of the Vulpine Lords. That will cause a considerable stink no matter what universe I hail from. You have enough troubles already. Losing a ship in your fleet in such an unexpected manner is not going to make your father the Admiral pleased. Don’t add to your black marks by having the Vulpine government making inquiry into your actions as well.”   
  
She gripped the table, fingers clenched in outrage, measuring his threats against the sheer pleasure of seeing him stuck in the brig anyway. “Your point is taken, Lord Rufus,” Blake finally said. “Go find your twin then. I assume you will be discreet and not mention what you have of this operation to anyone else.”   
  
“Naturally, Captain. You have my discretion on that matter,” Brushtail agreed. He turned to the other Lance. “Take care of yourself, young man. This ship is not in friendly country.”   
  
“You too, Rufus,” he said, giving the Vulpine a laconic salute.   
  
Brushtail gave her another bow and walked out the of them. Blake let out a sharp, angry snort and turned to the real Lance. “Find some quarters for your twin there, Lieutenant. I’ve got to get back to the CinC and start planning our next move.”   
  
“Yes, Captain,” he said, scrambling to his feet. “Come on, Bro.”   
  
“With pleasure,” the other Lance replied, glancing at Blake with a curious expression before following his twin. When they were gone, she blew out a breath and sat down in her chair once again, sipping on her mug of tea, her mind racing.   
  
_There’s something wrong. It can’t be a coincidence that they knew the description of the target_. She took another sip of her tea, feeling a bit more satisfied. _If I bring Chan’s assassin in, it’ll just barely make up for the cost of this operation. If I could bring two of them in…?_  
  
Blake stood up and set the cup down, heading out the door towards the CinC. She had a lot of planning to do.  
  
* * *  
  
“Well, that went well,” Lance said.   
  
“Compared to _what_ , mate?” Lance replied.   
  
Lance shrugged. “Imagine being in the same room as her and Uncle Erwin, and you just screwed something up.”   
  
“Oof! No thanks! One of the Admiral is bad enough.”   
  
Lance stopped at the door of one of the ship’s guest quarters and put his hand on the palm lock, the touched the keypad to indicate a guest was being settled there. “Okay, now you put your hand here to set your palm code… Oh, wait, I guess you don’t have too.” He grinned at his twin. “This is gonna be fun, mate.”   
  
“Yeah, can’t wait until Rufus comes back with his twin. He’s a good bloke.” They stepped inside and his twin sat down on a padded station chair.   
  
“Most Vulps are. How’d you hook up with him?”   
  
“Eh, ran into him when the Galapados attacked a refueling station that my squadron was parked at after completing an escort run. He was escorting a freighter convoy at the time but turned about to help us when it looked things were getting out of hand.”   
  
“Who are the Galapados?” Lance asked.   
  
His twin frowned. “Big lizard fellas, ‘bout a half a head higher than you or me. The Varn Gene Mage designed ‘em as some sorta super-warrior race. You never head of ‘em?”   
  
Lance’s eyes widened. “The _Varn_? Look, now you’re getting scary. The Dominion is long gone, has been for five hundred years.”   
  
“Yeah, well, in our universe they decided to make a comeback,” his twin said. “We’ve run into the Gene Mage a couple of times now. He’s pretty hot to get… ah, our friend.”   
  
Lance hooked a second chair with his foot and sat down across from his twin. “Look now, that’s the second time you’ve gone cool when you started talking about your ‘friend’ that you’re trying to rescue along with Leeza. What’s got you and the Vulp so tight about him?”   
  
“Can’t say,” his twin answered. “Maybe after it’s all over we can, but first we gotta get the two of them back.”   
  
Lance leaned back in his chair and gave the other Lance a long stare. “He’s the twin of our target, isn’t he?”   
  
His twin sighed. “I can’t tell you that. Same as you shouldn’t be talking about him with me.”   
  
“I am talking about him,” Lance said. “I want you to talk about him. Lee has been tight-lipped about this guy ever since we got put on this duty. I know what he looks like, and I know he’s supposed to be some kinda fancy throat cutter. That still doesn’t explain why the frell the Navy needs to send three light cruisers to go after one moddie pirate. We’re not even targeting his boss, who seems about as nasty as they come, just him. Now what _is_ this kid and why is Uncle Erwin so hot to get him?”   
  
His twin scratched under his chin, then took a long breath, “Ya can’t tell Captain Leeza what I’m gonna tell ya, mate. Not if she’s as tight with Uncle Erwin as it looks like she is.”   
  
Lance shook his head. “I’m a Marine officer, same as you. If it’s about our mission, I’ve got an obligation to tell her.”   
  
“You’ve also got an obligation to disobey blatant criminal orders,” his twin said.   
  
“Nothing criminal about what we’re doing. We’re arresting a murderer,” Lance said.   
  
Now it was his turn to shake his head. “No, you’re going after a fifteen year-old kid. And if your Admiral Blake is anything like ours, it isn’t justice that he’s after. He wants to put the kid on an operating table and cut him open to see what makes him tick. And if he can’t do that, he wants him dead.”   
  
“ _What_? Oh, come on! Uncle Erwin can be as stiff-necked as they come, but he’s wouldn’t ever…”   
  
“He does in our universe,” his twin said, cutting him off. “Terinu, the boy you’re after, in our universe he’s Leeza’s ward. Even knowing that, the Admiral sent a hit team after him, and then stuck Leeza, his own daughter, in a fraggin’ prison when she had the guts to call him out on it. Me, Rufus, Vonnie, and another friend of ours broke her out, and we’ve been runnin’ from the Admiral ever since.”   
  
Lance blinked. “So where’s that leave you mate?”   
  
His twin stood up out of his chair and began to pace. “AWOL. I sh*tcanned my career to help Leeza and Terinu, because it was the right thing to do, and because Erwin Blake was wrong. Even knowing what that kid is, he’s still wrong to try and kill him.”   
  
“So what is he, bro?” Lance asked. “Why’s he so important that you willing to lay your career down for him? Why would the Admiral be so mad to get him, a teenage alien kid?”   
  
“He’s a Ferin,” his twin said. “That doesn’t mean anything to you, but it means everything to the Admiral. Because the Ferin were what powered the Dominion back in the day. And if the Gene Mage gets a hold of him, the Admiral thinks they’re gonna come back, and we’ll be fightin’ the Twenty Years War all over again.”   
  
Lance was quiet for a long time. Finally he said, “We can’t fight the Twenty Years War again. Not with the Alliance in the shape it is nowadays.”   
  
“Same here.” His twin sat down again, giving him a stare. “So what are ye gonna tell Captain Blake, when you report back to her? Because ye know she’s gonna ask what we talked about.”   
  
Lance blew out a breath. “Well, we’re just gonna have to see, ain’t we?”   
  
“Guess so.”   
  
“Worth your career, was it?”   
  
“Yeah, yeah it was.”   
  
“Let’s hope I don’t have to make the same decision,” he said, then smiled. “Hate to take Leeza off my Christmas card list.” Then he stood up, shook his twin’s hand, and left the room.


	2. Chapter 2

The rather confusing conversation Rufus had with the refueling station's flight control center suddenly made a great deal more sense when he found himself facing a near exact copy of the _White Knight_ , right down to the chess piece logo on her side, some hundred paces away from where he'd parked his own ship. His shoulders sagged down in relief as he thought, _An ally I can trust absolutely, at last!_  
  
He paused there for a moment, giving this twin of his ship a critical eye. She'd seen plenty of action, that was for certain. There were burned and melted panels on the port wing and along the hull that hadn't been repaired yet, and the number two chin cannon was missing. Rufus found himself frowning as he walked around aft, noting the hairline crack along engine's thrust exhaust ring. _That's not battle damage, that's just poor maintenance. Dangerously poor_. Well, perhaps his other self was going through a bad stretch. Fine then, he decided. He could hardly abandon himself when he appeared to be having troubles. He patted his _White Knight's_ twin fondly, and promised her that he'd see to getting her properly repaired as soon as possible.   
  
_Now then, if I were me, where would I visit first on this station?_ Rufus walked out of the parking bay, towards the station's main commerce corridor. At the third bar he poked his head into, the Galen barkeep behind the counter looked at him when he entered with an angry glare.   
  
“You!” the barkeep called out, “you've got a lot of odos to come back in here after you tried to stiff...” The Galen's voice trailed off as he looked at Rufus more closely. “I'm sorry, sir,” he said with more deference, “but you wouldn't happen to have a brother, would you?”   
  
“Quite possibly,” Rufus said, slipping some credit chits across the countertop towards the barkeep. “You wouldn't happen to know which way he went, would you?”   
  
“Roxi’s Place, Cross-Corridor Five,” the barkeep said.   
  
“Thank you, my good sir.” He found Roxi’s Place three corridors down, the sign above the door in glaring red, fuzzing out occasionally as the cheap holographic projector lost power intermittently. He smiled at the two rather desperate looking working girls leaning on either side of the doorframe and slipped inside. Inside the dimly lit waiting area, music thumped painfully against his eardrums as a thin Creo woman in too much makeup slid up to him.   
  
“I’m not looking for companionship,” he said hastily. He flashed some more credit chits at her. “I’m looking for my, er, my brother. Is he still here?”   
  
She took the credits and slipped them into a pouch hanging from the wide belt that hugged her hips. “He’s upstairs, Handsome. Room number four.”   
  
“Thank you,” Rufus replied. “He isn’t, ah, currently occupied, is he?”   
  
She grinned at him. “Naw, I left him two hours ago. He’s still drying out probably.”   
  
“Again, thank you,” he said, and went upstairs as quickly as decorum would permit.   
  
Room number four was shut with a palm lock. Fortunately Rufus’ own hand was able to open it, as he thought it might. When the door slid open, he found himself involuntarily stepping back as a miasma of smells assaulted his nose, a terrible mixture of sweat, sex, alcohol, vomit, and something else he couldn’t quite identify. Steeling himself, he stepped over the threshold. Inside the room the temperature was blood warm, and he saw the naked body of the Vulpine he was looking for sprawled on the room’s bed, the only piece of furniture inside, partially wrapped in a dirty sheet. His head was hanging over the side of the bed, face down in a waste bin.   
  
The figure let out a low moan. “I paid for th’ fraggin’ room til tomorrow, y’ greedy bitch!”   
  
“I’m not the proprietor,” Rufus answered.   
  
With a grunt, the other Vulpine rolled over, flopping onto his back. The figure looked back at him with Rufus’ own eyes, though they were red, puffy, and dilated to an alarming degree. “Thas okay then. Hiya, buddy,” his other self greeted cheerily, “Ya wanna party? It’s ah _great_ party tonigh’.”   
  
“No, thank you,” Rufus said, sitting on a relatively clean spot on the edge of the bed, nudging a bottle lying on the floor away with his foot. “I’m not here to party. I was looking for you, in fact.”   
  
“Lookin’ fer me?” his other self, appearing confused. He took in a couple of deep breaths, and Rufus could briefly see how thin his fur had grown, revealing skin hanging tight against his ribs. “M-my sister didn’ send ya, did she? I-I-I don’ wanna talk t’ her no more...”   
  
“No, she didn’t,” Rufus answered, his voice growing tight. “By the Blessed Mother Goddess, what are you _doing_ here, man?”   
  
“I told ya, man, ‘m havin’ _party_!” His other self giggled briefly, ending in a wet belch. Then he clumsily reached over to his stained uniform jacket which was hanging off the bedpost, pulling out a small case from the inner pocket. “Got party favors and everythin’, see!”   
  
Rufus snatched the case out his hand, popping it open to reveal a pair of ampoules sitting in disposable injectors. “What is this?” he asked, trying to keep the growl out of his voice.   
  
“Jus’, jus’ some Juno,” his other self answered. “Keeps m’ reflexes in shape.”   
  
Rufus reached over and grabbed hold of the Vulpine’s left arm, feeling through the fur until he could find the line of bumps of the injection points. Juno was, he knew, a semi-useful combat drug, but completely illegal in civilized areas, for good reason. Mercenary pilots sometimes indulged in it, for it did help calm jittery combat reflexes in a fight. _Until it begins to burn out their brains_ , he thought. “You… you… _pathetic_ …” he began to growl, then clamped down on his anger with great effort.   
  
“Hey, don’ be such a fraggin’ stiff tail, buddy. Who the hell are ya anyway?” his other self said, pulling his arm away. Then he blinked, trying to bring his eyes into focus. “Do I know you?”   
  
Rufus stood. “No, sir,” he said stiffly. “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else.” Then he turned away and walked out, letting the door shut itself behind him.  
  
* * *  
  
Rufus marched back towards his ship, face set in a frown, intent on getting the _White Knight_ refueled and back in space as quickly as possible. _You were wondering what you were like in this universe. Too late to complain about finding out._  
  
How, _what_ weakness was in this universe’s version of himself that turned him into such a wretched, wrecked creature? _If my mother ever saw me in that state, she’d disown me immediately, and deservedly so_. Perhaps in this world she already had.   
  
His pace slowed as came before the battered, badly used hull of his twin’s _White Knight_. Perhaps this, more than his twin’s condition, was what outraged Rufus the most. _He had enough money to purchase his wretched drugs and buy a woman for the night, you can’t tell me he didn’t have enough to conduct some basic repairs._ Slowly, he walked down the length of the fighter’s hull, noting every bit of scratched paint, every ding in her hull plating, every un-cleaned smudge. Simple maintenance chores seemed beyond the sot now.   
  
He found himself pausing before the cracked thrust ring. That was a far more serious matter. Certainly it made this ship useless as a fighter. If she was brought up to combat acceleration it would almost certainly trigger a catastrophic engine failure, one that might kill a pilot whose senses were operating at full capacity, never mind the wretch he’d left in that brothel.   
  
_Leave him_ , Rufus told himself firmly, _you can’t save him from his fate._  
  
Still, he stood before the battered fighter for a long time, thinking. _Is Bethany in this world? Will she weep for him when he dies, or simply sigh in relief and say “Good riddance?”_ No, he couldn’t believe, whatever this other Rufus’ state, that his sister would be of the same mould. _She would cry for him, wretch or not, even if I wouldn’t_. Then he sighed and turned around, heading back to Roxi’s Place.   
  
* * *   
  
Extricating his “brother” from the brothel proved relatively simple. The owner was more than happy to free up the room for another customer, and his twin had fallen unconscious again, coming down off an ampoule from his supply case. Rufus threw him and his small pack of belongings over his shoulder and hauled them both over to what passed for a luxury hotel on this station, with a suite that was otherwise unremarkable except for featuring (for a suitable surcharge) a full spectrum H2O shower.   
  
Rufus left his snoring twin on the bed while he pulled out the shower’s control panel, inserting a transceiver with a lockout mechanism. Then he stripped his twin out of his clothes, dropped him with a thump into the shower, then slid the door shut and jammed it closed with a screwdriver.   
  
“Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty!” he called out, and pressed the **All Faucets, Needle Spray, Cold** button on his remote’s touchscreen. Seven spray nozzles set two to a side and one above came to life at once, and three seconds later his twin was awake and howling in outrage.   
  
“What the bloody…!” the sodden Vulpine began to shout, then screamed again as Rufus kicked the water temperature to near boiling. “You motherless…!”   
  
“Such language,” Rufus called out, above the noise of his twin thumping against the translucent plastic door. “Mother would be ashamed.”   
  
“You leave that stiff-necked vixen out of this, you…. _Arrrrrrgh_!” he shouted, as the temperature switched to near freezing again. Rufus tossed a liquid soap dispenser and a loofah over the top of the door, the former bouncing off his twin’s head judging from the yelp he let out.   
  
“Start cleaning and I’ll set this to a more reasonable temperature,” Rufus told him.   
  
“Go fragg yourself!”   
  
“Have it your way. Time to boil again, I guess,” Rufus said cheerily.   
  
“No, wait!” He heard the sound of the loofah being vigorously rubbed over fur, then relented and turned the temperature back to lukewarm. After several minutes his twin announced that he was finished, and Rufus turned on the drying fans. Once he was sure there had been enough time fur his fur to dry out, he turned the fans off and unblocked the door.   
  
“Come on out, it’s time to talk,” Rufus told him. His twin opened the door, took one look at him, then shut it again.   
  
“Go away!”   
  
“I’m not going anywhere,” Rufus said firmly.   
  
“I’m being tortured by a bloody hallucination!”   
  
“I don’t think your brain is that far gone, brother. Now unless you want me to turn that shower on again, I suggest you open the door so we can talk.”   
  
The door opened again, and his twin leaned out, hands pressed against the shower stall to steady himself. “Who are you and what by the blasted Den Mother are you doing with my face?”   
  
“Remember watching that human entertainment called “It’s a Wonderful Life” when you were a cub?”   
  
“Yes, it was sentimental claptrap. What’s that got to do with anything?”   
  
“Well, I find myself in the position of George Bailey, and instead of being in a world where I don’t exist, it’s that I exist and I’m a bloody worthless, drunk, drug-addicted, suicidal idiot.”   
  
“Go away,” his brother repeated, stepping out of the shower to stand, however unsteadily, on his feet. “If I wanted to be insulted I’d try calling my mother. At least I’m sure she’s not a product of my deranged imagination.”   
  
“Why should I go away? I’m the one who rented this room,” Rufus replied, handing him a bathrobe. He motioned towards the suite’s dining area, where a tray had been delivered by room service a few minutes before he’d thrown his twin into the shower. “Now sit and eat.”   
  
His brother’s face took on a distinctly ill expression, though he did put on the robe and sit down. “No, thank you.”   
  
“When was the last time you ate a meal that wasn’t cheap space rations or beer nuts in a pub?”   
  
“Er, a while now,” his brother admitted. He grimaced at the plate in front of him, but cut off a slice of meat for himself and began to chew. In a matter of moments he was eating ravenously, and had cleaned his plate off in short order. “Oh, by the Blessed Mother, for a hallucination that was tasty,” he said, letting out a satisfied belch.   
  
“It was real enough,” Rufus said. “Would I could take care of the rest of your problems so easily.”   
  
“Don’t have any problems,” his brother said with studied casualness.   
  
Rufus frowned in annoyance. “Leaving aside your obvious personal faults, you’ve got a fighter in dock that’s badly in need of repair. You try and go into combat with a cracked thrust ring and your engine will blow for certain.”   
  
His brother waved his hand airily. “I don’t use the _White Knight_ for combat anymore.”   
  
“She’s a fighter. What else is she good for?”   
  
The other Rufus shrugged. “Oh, courier work, mostly. Secured messages, small packages, that sort of thing.”   
  
“Small packages,” Rufus said tightly, a terrible light dawning in his mind. “Small, _expensive_ packages, I’m assuming.”   
  
“Sometimes,” the other Rufus admitted, turning his face away.   
  
“Drug smuggling, you’ve been using the _White Knight_ for _**drug smuggling!**_ </b>” Rufus shouted. “Well at least I know how you can afford the garbage you’ve been shooting into your veins. Obviously you’ve been taking payment in kind!”   
  
“Oh, shut up you sanctimonious prat!” the other Rufus shouted back. “I’m doing what I need to do to keep flying!”   
  
“We didn’t put the _White Knight_ together to work for the sort of scum we were supposed to be protecting people from!”   
  
“That is such a frelling load of garbage! Oh, yes, brilliant idea! Run away from home, put an old fighter together and fly through fragging galaxy like we were some Terran knight errant!” the other Rufus growled. “Well the real world doesn't bloody well _want_ heroes, understand?” He snorted in a breath and buried his face in his hands.   
  
Rufus paused for a moment, waiting. His brother didn't move, didn't raise his head, didn't dare look at him, for fear of... what? Being judged?   
  
_Seeing what he tried to be, and failed?_ he thought.   
  
“What ship did you lose?” he asked softly.   
  
His brother spoke, still not daring to raise his head. “The _Blue Horizon_ , a passenger liner out of Vulpine Secundus, on the Circle Route to the far stations. An easy run it seemed to me. I was one of four fighters and a civilian cutter escorting her. Far too many teeth for any normal pirate to challenge.”   
  
“I've heard of that ship,” Rufus said, “and I know who hit her.”   
  
“Easy run, take our rest periods on-board the liner, not too close to the disputed territories, no worries,” his brother continued. “Then _she_ came out of nowhere, two days out from the first station.”   
  
“The _Celestial Marauder_ ,” Rufus said.   
  
His brother nodded. “Turned out the _Horizon_ was carrying a load of industrial grade platinum in her holds that we hadn't been briefed on. Chan wanted it, and she was going to get it. The _Marauder_ launched missiles and blew through the cutter's defenses like they weren't there. We had enough time for two strafing runs on her. The first took out two escort fighters, the second my wing-man. Then it was just me, the liner, and her.”   
  
“So you ran,” Rufus concluded.   
  
“I ran,” his brother agreed dully. “A hundred and fifty crew, four hundred and thirty-eight passengers, sixty-three of them cubs. She didn't bother taking any prisoners that day, she just wanted the platinum. I can still hear the _Horizon's_ first officer screaming at me through the radio when I accelerated to go superliminal.”   
  
“What happened afterward?”   
  
His brother looked up at him finally, his eyes puffy and red once again. “I told the review board that I had been running to get help, since I was clearly over-matched. They agreed and exonerated me. The truth is, I was just running, trying to stay alive.”   
  
“Must have been a bit difficult to get work after that,” Rufus said.   
  
His brother chuckled in bitter agreement. “No legitimate transport service would hire me. So... after I began to get hungry... I started hiring out to services that... weren't so legitimate.”   
  
Rufus paused for a moment, watching his brother as the latter stared blankly at the wall. Then he said, “In my world, I didn't take the _Blue Horizon_ run. I ended up escorting a freighter convoy heading towards the Outback. Thought it would be more interesting than what looked to be a boring run on the Circle Route. Afterward, I'd wondered if one more fighter in the _Horizon's_ group would have made a difference. In a strange sort of way, you've eased my mind a bit.”   
  
“Glad I'm good for something then,” his brother said. “Myself, I thought taking my breaks on board a lovely liner, with the food, and the games, and the vixens, would be a nice little vacation.” He let out one short, barking laugh, then broke down and began to weep.  
  
* * *  
  
The crying jag lasted for several minutes, and all Rufus could do for his brother was sit beside him and wait for it to pass. He didn’t try to come any closer than that, for he suspected that as humiliated and shamed as this battered twin of his was, any pity he offered would be rejected violently. Eventually the tears slowed, and Rufus eased his brother to his feet and guided him back to bed. As he suspected the man’s reserves were not large, even with the good meal that he’d had, and soon he was back to sleep, snoring softly.   
  
_Now what, old man?_ he thought to himself, _This fellow needs more help than I can give him._ With his brother’s fighter in such poor shape, he was certainly not going to be much use in a fight with Mavra Chan. Though if it could be repaired, that might change things. _Perhaps with his White Knight back in order, it might spark his honor and bravery back to light_. But thrust rings didn’t grow in farm fields, and neither did the half-dozen other repairs that Rufus had seen in his brief exterior inspection that were needed to bring his brother’s ship to fighting trim.   
  
Of course all of this was going to cost money. A great deal of money. _Quite a bit more than the change I’ve got in my pocket, for certain_ , he thought grimly. After a moment’s pause he bit the bullet and went over to the suite’s computer console to open his twin brother’s account, the passwords being the same, fortunately. Unfortunately the records he found confirmed what he’d suspected. The one-Vulpine bacchanalia he’d found his brother in was done in a rare moment of financial flushness. _Emphasis on flushed_ , Rufus thought. The profit from his last flight had gone mostly to his room and recent companionship, and it hadn’t really been enough to get the _White Knight_ the repairs she needed. The records showed a slow decline in cash flow, running for several years, as jobs dried up, mostly likely linked to his brother’s deteriorating condition. Spending had been equally frugal, mostly on fuel for his ship, alcohol for himself, and vague and disturbing entries for “other entertainment.” _How did he manage to not pay for any **food** for three months?_ He shuddered, realizing that his brother must have subsisted on food cubes from the _Knight’s_ environmental recycling system. _Gah!_   
  
Rufus typed in another account code into the financial record system, the one for the House Brushtail estate accounts, and wasn’t terribly surprised to find he couldn’t get in. _Mother blocked his code when he started pulling money out to support his addictions, he guessed. Which means I can’t get at it either to pull the money I need to repair his **White Knight**. Bloody marvelous._ He didn’t even have enough money on him to try and call Mother on a direct FTL link, not that she was likely to believe him if he tried to explain the whole situation. No, he had to try. Surely his brother had some secret stash of money set aside for emergencies.   
  
Throwing his brother’s privacy to the winds, Rufus turned out the pockets of his jacket (empty, aside from an open prophylactic wrapper), then dumped the mildly rancid contents of his kit bag onto the bed. Dirty clothes, a small electronics tool kit probably thought too valuable to leave on his ship, and a phone earpiece all fell out. But there was no secret wad of cash or fund transfer cards. Then Rufus found, while patting through the bag’s pockets, a small vellum envelope with a cracked and opened Brushtail house seal upon it.   
  
Opening it, he found a small slip of notepaper, wrapped around a one-shot calling card, the sort of thing designed so that the user could reach only a single number with it. The note itself simply read   
  
_Rufus,  
  
Please call home.   
  
Bethany   
  
So she does hold out hope for you, even now_, he thought, taking the card and folding the note carefully away back in its envelope.   
  
He sat down again in front of the computer, buttoned up and straightened his uniform jacket, took a deep breath, then slotted the calling card into the computer’s reader slot. The screen flashed up with a CONNECTING CALL message, then switched to a view of his younger sister’s room. Her face suddenly appeared in the display plate, and she yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Yes, what is it-- _Rufus!_ ” Suddenly she was fully awake and looking back at him in amazement.   
  
“I’m terribly sorry, Bethany, did I wake you?” Rufus said, feeling his face flush with embarrassment at having forgotten to check what the local time was at the estate.   
  
“No, well yes, but that’s all right. Oh, dear brother it is so good to see your face. You look so much _better_ than the last time we talked.”   
  
Rufus gave her a wry smile. “I suspect you mean ‘sane and sober’, dear Bethany.”   
  
“Well, yes,” she admitted. “That doesn’t matter. Oh, Rufus, it is wonderful to see you! Are you coming home soon?”   
  
“I’m sorry, Bethany, but no,” he said, pained to see how her face fell at his words. For a moment, he thought he might tell it all to her, except that he couldn’t think of a way to tell the story without seeming utterly mad. _I’m not your Rufus, I’m one from another universe. Your brother is still a drunk and an addict, but I need him and his ship if I’m going to rescue my friends. I’m sorry_. “Actually…”   
  
“You need money,” she said, all animation dropping out of her voice.   
  
Rufus closed his eyes in shame. “I’m sorry. Believe me when I say I would not ask for this if the situation were not desperate. My ship needs repairs badly and people, good people, are going to be hurt if I can not get to them in time.”   
  
“Oh, Rufus, I wish I could believe you,” Bethany said.   
  
“Bethany, I honestly do not know what manner of pain I have inflicted upon you these past years. Great pain, I suspect, made even greater by the fact that I have refused to speak to you before now. I can not repair those bridges I have burned, only try to build new ones, and in that I cannot guarantee success. Neither can I claim that you will ever see me again as you see me now, sober, sane, like the brother you once knew and still love. All I can say is, by my Word as Viscount Ru-Ofanius Brushtail, of the House of Brushtail, I beg that you release funds sufficient to repair my ship. Otherwise, good and trustworthy friends of mine will be harmed, possibly killed, by people who regard honor as a joke, and find amusement in cruelty and harm to others.”   
  
“Your Word,” she said carefully.   
  
“Yes.”   
  
She drew her chin up. “All the other times, when you asked for, begged for, cried for money, you never bothered to give your word of honor. You just told us that you would pay the House back, that you really meant it this time. You never did.”   
  
“Well, I can at least tell you this in absolutely truth,” he said, with some humor, “you most likely aren’t to be paid back this time either. Not unless the _White Knight_ goes into hock.”   
  
She bit her lip, thinking. “People will be hurt, you say, if you do not get your ship repaired?”   
  
“That is an absolute certainty, dear sister,” he said, sobering up.   
  
Bethany nodded and tapped at her computer’s controls. A moment later a sub-screen popped up in Rufus’ own display, showing his twin’s account balance, which was suddenly filled with more than enough to get his ship operational. “There,” she said. “This money is from my personal account, not the House’s, so it should not attract Mother’s attention. Spend it wisely, please.”   
  
“I shall, dear Bethany,” he replied, bowing to her in his seat.   
  
“I won’t ask you to be safe, Rufus, I know you better than that,” she said, “but I do beg that you take care. I want you to come home.”   
  
“I shall try, Bethany. Mother Goddess willing, someday I might succeed,” he replied. She nodded to him once again, then cut the transmission. Rufus leaned back in his seat and let out a long sigh.   
  
“Is she gone?” his twin’s muffled voice asked from under the covers, apparently having awakened sometime during the conversation.   
  
“Yes,” Rufus told him, turning in his chair to face the bed. “There’s enough money on the card still to call her back, if you wish. I’ll admit it would make this situation a damned sight less awkward if she could see us both together and I get a chance to explain things.”   
  
His brother drew the sheets back and stared up at the ceiling. “I can’t let her see me like this. You…. you fit her expectations of her big brother better than I do these days.”   
  
“You still might, if you give her a chance.”   
  
“Not like this,” his brother said, then reluctantly amended, “not yet, anyway.”  
  
* * *  
  
“Well, well,” Mavra Chan said thoughtfully, standing in the center of the _Celestial Marauder’s_ boarding corridor, now connected to her sister ship. “Isn’t this interesting.” Beside her, Terinu was looking across at her opposite number with undisguised hatred. Or at the man beside her rather.   
  
“You’ve got a Mouse,” the other Mavra declared brightly. “I’m jealous!”   
  
“But you’ve still got Brooks,” she pointed out. “Though admittedly that’s hardly a fair trade.” Beside her other self, Brutal Brooks snarled in her direction.   
  
“Oh, but I _like_ Brooks, and Mouse was far too troublesome to keep,” her other self said. She pointed towards Terinu. “You should watch yourself with that one. His loyalties are a bit more flexible than you might realize.”   
  
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Mavra told her. She brushed her hand through Terinu’s hair, and he smiled, though he kept his eyes focused on Brooks. “He’s my good boy, aren’t you, Terinu?”   
  
“Yes, Milady,” he replied. “After all, ya let me fry that chunk of dog meat in front of me once already. I’ll do it for ya twice, if you give the word.”   
  
“We don’t have to listen t’ this, Milady!” Brooks said, his hand dropping towards his gun.   
  
“Ah, but they both say such interesting things,” her other self said, waving him down. “Be happy Mouse isn’t with us any longer. I think I’m seeing the flaw in the training I gave him.” Beside her, Brooks clamped his jaw shut, looking furious.   
  
“Enough with the chit-chat,” Mavra said. “I think we’ve got a little problem. I’ve got a ship that’s been pounded to hell because of Admiral Blake’s brat. You’ve got a ship that’s battle capable, but you’re cut off from the body of your fleet.”   
  
“So of course the best thing to do would be to team up. Bring our forces together. My ship acts as the flag, with you giving the orders to the rest of the fleet. Together we can pound Captain Blake flat and find out what she knows about our little mouse and his origins.”   
  
“Sounds like a good plan,” Mavra agreed. “There’s just one flaw.” In less than a second, she had her pistol out and pointed at her other self’s head, only to find she had done exactly the same. Brooks had his weapon at Terinu, while the boy hadn’t changed from his easy stance, having a more ready weapon than any of them.   
  
“We know each too well, to make this really work,” her other self concluded.   
  
Mavra smirked. “Let’s see. I shoot you, you shoot me, Brooks shoots at Terinu, Terinu shoots at Brooks. Who wins?   
  
“Mouse,” her other self concluded. “He’s got the reflexes to dodge Brooks’ shot.”   
  
“So he’s the only one standing at the end,” Mavra said.   
  
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, ya little rat,” Brooks growled.   
  
Terinu just smiled at him. “Not my first choice. I lose Lady Mavra, I lose everything.”   
  
“Unless you worked for me,” her other self pointed out.   
  
“Pass,” he said, unimpressed. “I got reasons t’ stay on this ship.”   
  
“Stalemate,” Mavra finished. “We both shoot, we both lose.”   
  
“So what, we just go along with the original plan, seeing who’s going to stab the other in the back first?” her other self asked.   
  
“Something like that.”   
  
Her other self smiled, put her pistol back in the holster, and then held out her hand. “You’ve got a deal.”  
  
* * *  
  
Rufus snagged the ceramic O-ring out of air as it fell out of his brother’s hand, from his perch on top of the _White Knight_. “Mind your hands!” he called, clambering up onto the port wing and handing it back. “If that had broken we would have had to have gotten another replacement. It was hard enough to find one for a fighter this old in the first place.”   
  
“Sorry, it just slipped,” his brother replied, taking the part back and ducking his head down. His hand was shaking as he held the delicate fitting, and he set it down on the wing, clenching his fists.   
  
Rufus frowned. “Why don’t you take a break and find us something to eat? I can finish up with the fuel line there while you’re away.”   
  
“It’s my bloody ship,” his brother growled. “I know her better than you. I can repair it by myself, thank you very much.”   
  
“No, you can’t,” Rufus said. “You’re shaking like a cob stalk in the wind. Get down from there and let me handle this bit before you smash something we can’t afford to replace. You can help when the parts shop delivers the new thrust ring next shift.”   
  
“Stop treating me like an idiot cub.”   
  
“Stop acting like one, then,” Rufus snapped back. He took a deep breath and tried again. “I need your help. You’re the only one that can fly your fighter. I need you both in the best shape you can be brought into within thirty-six hours, which is the maximum time I think Captain Blake is going to wait before she tries to assault Mavra Chan’s ships. Because I do not want her going in guns-a-blazing without someone shadowing her and making sure she doesn’t mistake one short boy with a tail for another.”   
  
His brother shook his head and climbed down form the wing. “I still think you’re mad, or I’m mad. Alternate universes. Identical twins. Alien boys who can produce more power than fusion plants. It’s ridiculous!”   
  
“I’m standing here right in front of you. You’ve already seen my ship. How much more proof do you need?” Rufus said.   
  
“For all I know you’re some sort of impersonator, part of a bizarre substitution plot.” His brother snorted a laugh. “Though why you’d want to take over _my_ life I haven’t the faintest idea.”   
  
“It does lack appeal, admittedly,” Rufus agreed. “Anyway, I can prove we’re the same person. Remember when we were around eight years old and we ran away to see that air show, after Mother said we couldn’t go?”   
  
His brother looked unimpressed. “Yes, but that’s not proof. Mother howled loud enough for the Den Mother herself to hear after Whitebrow finally caught up with me.”   
  
“Yes, but she would have howled louder if she’s found out about us hiding away in a storage locker in that transport, just before it took off to do a maneuver demonstration.”   
  
His brother stared at him. “I never told anyone about that. No one ever caught me. Mother would have had me skinned and tacked my pelt to the ceiling if she’d found out about it.” He shook his head. “Anyway, that’s not actual proof, per se.”   
  
“How about when we were nineteen? A bit drunk? Wanted to find out what kissing a human would be like? We ended up in that bar in the tourist district and we…”   
  
“ _Enough!_ ” his brother shouted. “Fine, your point is proven. You’re me. I’m you. That still doesn’t explain why we should be sticking our necks out for a bunch of aliens who seem to have more than enough firepower to manage their own affairs.”   
  
Rufus’ voice went cool. “Because some of those aliens are our friends, and it’s the right thing to do.”   
  
“For you maybe, not for me. I don’t know them.” His brother pointedly turned his back to Rufus and banged open a service panel to slide in a new system monitor unit. “Let the Navy handle the pirates. That’s what they’re there for.”   
  
Rufus paused, trying to rein in his temper. Finally, he said with deceptive softness, “What if I tell the Navy about a certain Vulpine who calls himself a mercenary but earns his keep couriering drugs for smugglers?”   
  
His brother turned, his face twisted up in a snarl, “You wouldn’t dare! You’d get accused as well!”   
  
“I can leave this universe, while you’re stuck here,” Rufus pointed out. “An old human author I’m rather fond of had a saying in one of her books. It went, _When you choose an action, you also choose the consequences of that action_. I think it’s past time you learn what that means. Do you think you could keep doing your dirty work without some of the stain getting on your paws?”   
  
His brother was shaking with rage, no, just shaking, snapped, “I did what I needed to do.”   
  
“I seriously doubt that. You _need_ to admit to your cowardice, then you need to go back home and apologize to our mother for your weakness, and then you need to get yourself to a doctor and be properly dried out.”   
  
“Fragg off! I’d rather die then go crawling back to that old stiff tail!” Ears flicked back, still shaking, his brother turned and stomped towards the hanger exit.   
  
“Where are you going?” Rufus called after him.   
  
Still walking, his brother shouted back. “To the bloody loo! Want to watch?” He walked through the door and it slid closed behind him.   
  
“Actually, I think I do,” Rufus said to himself. He jogged up to the door his brother had exited through, counted to five under his breath, then opened it, just in time to see the door to males’ ‘fresher down the hall slide shut. Padding up to that door, he counted to five again, opened it, and walked softly inside. There was only one occupied stall. Silently, he walked up to it, drew his leg back, and then kicked hard against the cheap plastic door. It flew inward on its hinges, the latch snapping, revealing him brother sitting on the toilet, the sleeve of his jacket rolled up, auto-injector pressed against his arm.   
  
“You fragging…” he began to snarl.   
  
“Shut up,” Rufus growling, snatching the injector out his brother’s hand. “That’s enough of that!” He tossed it into the garbage, where it disintegrated with a silent flash. “I need you sober and with all five senses fully operational if we’re going to do this.”   
  
“You bloody _sanctimonious_ little…” With a roar his brother stood up and rushed at him. Rufus stepped out of the way, putting his foot out to send his brother tripping into the wall. He struck with an audible thud, clutching his snout as blood began to leak between his fingers.   
  
“You’re starting to make me seriously rethink my options,” Rufus said to his brother, then grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and began dragging him out of the ‘fresher.   
  
“Where ar’gh we goi’g?” his brother demanded, still clutching his wounded snout.   
  
“Back to the hanger,” Rufus told him, marching along at brisk pace. “If I have to hogtie you with the _White Knight’s_ tiedown cables, I’m going to make sure you stay in one place while I finish her repairs. After that, we’ll just have to see whether taking you along with me is the help I and my friends really need.”  
  
* * *  
  
While life on the _Celestial Marauder_ wasn't ever what you'd call “normal” Matt supposed, even going by what he was used to things were mighty weird today. They were docked with the other Lady Mavra's _Marauder_ , transporting personnel and supplies over to this ship, getting ready to do whatever it was that the two pirate warlords wanted to do. It had sent Cookie into a frenzy, as the number of mouth's he had to feed suddenly doubled, never mind getting into an argument with his twin, who had come into the mess kitchen and immediately started drinking the latter's hidden booze supply. Matt supposed that meant that out of the pair of them, at least one might be sober enough to serve dinner in a couple of hours.   
  
Actually the twin thing was what was most weird about it. Everybody running into their doubles had caused disruptions all over both ships, and at least three duels had been fought between pairs of twins, one of which had ended with both parties getting slabbed. Lady Mavra (or maybe it had been Lady Mavra) had settled it by declaring that everyone had better leave all their weapons in their foot lockers and get the hell back to work, or else they'd settle arguments by tossing both parties out the airlock.   
  
Matt couldn't help but be curious what his own double was like. Living on a ship with no Brutal Brooks aboard sounded like paradise. It was a pity that poor Terinu seemed to be still stuck aboard. Though he missed his friend dearly some days, he couldn't angry over the younger boy for running away when he'd gotten the chance. Matt hoped wherever he was, he was happy right now.   
  
He was maneuvering a cargo pallet labeled “oxygen joint seals, four centimeter” into position in the cargo bay nearest Engineering, when someone behind him cleared their throat and said, “H-Hi, Matt.”   
  
Matt turned around to face himself, grinning, “Hi, it's good to finally meet you!”   
  
The Matt nodded shyly, “G-good to m-meet you too, I guess.” His hair was combed back and gelled, like some of the ship's crew did who set their money aside and went for fancy looks, and wore nice fitting clothes that looked like he'd gotten first pick through the piles of leftovers that were always available after a successful boarding.   
  
“Spiff outfit, by the way,” he told him. “You must be doing pretty good over on the other ship.”   
  
The boy ducked his head down. “Y-eah, Terinu takes care of me.”   
  
Matt laughed, as he locked down the box into its alcove. “That's something. Used to be, I was the one who took care of Teri, when he was younger.”   
  
The other Matt nodded, “I did the same. I-I kinda raised him. I was only eight when he came aboard. H-he'd spent a y-year at some cabaret, but the lady who ran it d-didn't want him there. S-so Lady Mavra gave him to m-me. Like having a brother again. C-cept when he got older... things kinda turned around. S-still not s-sure how.”   
  
Matt shrugged. “Funny how things work out. Suppose it must be great over there, with no Brutal Brooks on board.”   
  
“Y-yeah, j-just great,” his twin said, not looking at all happy.   
  
Matt frowned. What was the matter with this fellow. “What happened to Brooks anyway?”   
  
The other Matt bit his lip. “T-Terinu killed him.”   
  
“ _What_?”   
  
“I d-don't w-want... I g-gotta g-g-get back. T-terinu will want to k-know where I've been.” His twin turned around and ducked out into the companionway.   
  
Matt ran after him and grabbed his arm, dragging him to a halt. “Hey, ya can't stop there! How could Teri kill Brooks? He hates hurtin' people.”   
  
“I d-dunno how,” his twin stuttered. “I done s-something s-stupid. D-dropped a part for the s-star drive engine that the Chief had wanted, a really expensive one. It smashed to bits on the f-floor, right in front of b-both of them.” The other Matt started shuddering. “Brooks p-punched m-me in the stomach and started y-yelling at what a s-stupid f-faggot I was. I fell down, and then he started k-kicking me. N-next thing that happened, w-was Terinu came runnin' in, screaming at B-brooks to stop. B-brooks just said, “Make me, freak!” and kept kicking me. I thought I was going to die. S-sometimes I w-wish I had.”   
  
“Why?” Matt asked.   
  
“B-because then Terinu j-jumped on B-brooks, glowing like a reactor core. He just grabbed and held on, glowing brighter and brighter. Then Brooks started to scream. Then Terinu... blew his head off. Just like that, no gun or nothing. Just zapped him with some beam that came between his spurs. T-then he looked down on me, and he... and he... _smiled_. It was the h-happiest I'd ever seen him. Like he'd done s-omething terrific.” His twin looked at him. “Did y-your Terinu ever do something like that?”   
  
Matt blinked. “Once. But he wasn't what you'd call happy about it. He got pretty sick really. I don't think he liked it.”   
  
“My Terinu likes it,” his twin said. “He's never been happier. The first thing he said to me, after Doc had patched me up was, 'now I can protect you.'”   
  
Matt frowned, not quite understanding, only knowing that this other Matt didn't seem happy at all about being protected by Terinu. “I guess you're lucky then.”   
  
“Yeah, real lucky,” his twin said, looking like he wanted to cry. “Really lucky.”  
  
* * *  
  
Terinu looked up when the cell bay’s door slide back, and dared to have a hope for the first time in days when he saw Matt enter, carrying a tray of rations. “Hey, Matt!” he called out, smiling, “’bout time you showed up. I was getting worried.”   
  
Matt swallowed, and put the tray down on the floor, pushing it quickly through the pass slot. “I-I’m not supposed t-to talk to the prisoners,” he said, not meeting Terinu’s eyes.   
  
“Hey, Matt, what’s the matter?” Crap, something was wrong, way wrong. Matt somehow was looking both better and worse than Terinu had ever seen him. For one thing he just _looked_ cleaner, his hair neatly brushed back, his clothes looking new and fitting well, like they’d been bought for him, not snatched out of the pile of abandoned booty that Chan had deemed not worth selling. Usually from the wardrobes of the _Celestial Marauder’s_ latest victim. Worse was the expression on his face. The kid was scared to death about something, with a beaten dog look that Terinu was all too familiar with, and his eyes had bags under them, as if it had been a long time since he’d gotten a decent watch’s sleep.   
  
“Not supposed to talk t’ you, sorry,” Matt mumbled, and quickly stood up and turned away.   
  
“Matt, _stop_!” Terinu shouted, and his friend froze into place, like a Galen space rat that had just had its cover pulled away. “Don’t ya frelling go nowhere! I need your help t’ get out of here!”   
  
“Can’t, Lady Mavra’s orders,” Matt said, not turning around.   
  
Terinu drew in a breath. Fragg, he wasn’t any good at this psychology stuff. All he knew was that he had to get Matt on his side quick, because it didn’t look like he was going to get a second chance. “Matt, listen t’ me. I seen the other me, the one you’ve gotta deal with. Yer scared of him. That’s all right, he scares the crap outta me too. But y’ listen t’ me now. If yer like the Matt Townsend in my world, y’ kept me alive when I should have starved to death. Y’ kept me from goin’ nuts whenever Brooks decided to screw with me. If that guy in the black leathers is still around because of what you did, he ain’t gonna hurt y’, you got that?”   
  
Matt’s shoulders hunched down as Terinu spoke. Once he’d finished the human’s head hung down, and he shook it once, denying what Terinu had just said.   
  
“Y’ did that for him,” Terinu went on, desperately. “The Matt in my world did it for me too. Y’ think I don’t remember that? You think I wouldn’t rather die then see ya hurt? You get me out of this cell, ya get this fraggin’ inhibitor collar off me, I’ll protect you, okay? I won’t let anybody hurt ya!”   
  
Matt finally turned his head to look at Terinu, a desperate, hopeful expression on his face. Then he turned away quickly, straightening up in surprise as the cell bay’s door slid open again.   
  
“Matt, what did I say about talkin’ to the prisoner?” Terinu’s twin said, his expression dark.   
  
“T-t-to not to, sir,” Matt stuttered.   
  
“Ya shouldn’t listen t’ anything he says. Ya think he can treat ya better than I can?”   
  
Matt stared at the floor. “N-no, sir. Y-y-you keep me safe.”   
  
The expression on the black clad Ferin’s face softened into a knowing smile. “Look me in the face and say it again.”   
  
Matt raised his head, looking into the eyes of the other Terinu. “Y-you keep me safe, sir.”   
  
“That’s right,” this Terinu said. His tail wrapped around Matt, the spade coming to rest on the older boy’s shoulder. Matt flinched as the tip brushed against his cheek. “Nobody is ever gonna touch ya, not while I’m around. We’re best friends, ain’t that right, Matt?”   
  
“Yessir,” Matt agreed, his voice barely a whisper.   
  
Terinu’s twin drew his tail back. “Now run along back to our quarters. We’re gonna have a little talk, after I chat with my twin here. Ya understand?”   
  
“Yessir. Yes, Terinu.” Matt fled the cell without another word, while this world’s Terinu let out a quiet chuckle.   
  
“Good boy,” he said, when the door shut. He turned around to face Terinu, pulling a remote out of his pocket, his expression turned dark again. “Now what’s this about ya tryin’ t’ turn my best friend against me?” He pressed a button, and Terinu dropped to the floor as the shock collar zapped him.


	3. Chapter 3

Matt’s journey through the _Marauder_ became slower at every step, as he came closer and closer to the cabin that he and Terinu shared. The image of the other Terinu, stuck in that cell, begging, actually _begging_ for Matt’s help repeated itself in his mind.   
  
_You think I wouldn’t rather die than see ya hurt?_  
  
The strange thing was, he could remember the day that his own Terinu said that. Right after his beating by Brooks, when he was laid up in sick bay. Terinu had fed him, had changed his bedpan, had told him stupid jokes to make him smile, until he was able to walk again. Terinu had just _been there_ , making sure he was all right, letting him know that Lady Mavra wasn’t angry about what happened.   
  
_She said it was Brooks’ own d*mn fault, for lettin’ himself get mad at just a cook’s assistant. She said if he thought the fraggin’ part was so important, he should have carried it himself. She said… that I was just what she wanted now._  
  
Then things had changed. Terinu had become somebody important in Lady Mavra’s eyes. He’d gotten a real cabin all to himself, Brooks’ old one ironically enough.   
  
Then he’d gotten Matt.   
  
Matt came to the cabin’s door, took a breath, then pressed his hand on the palm reader. The door slid open, he took another breath, entered, and it slid shut again with a _thunk_. It wasn’t going to open again until Terinu stepped inside, or until it was time for Matt to go to the mess to help Cookie. A precaution, Terinu had said.   
  
_It’s dangerous on board. Everybody on the ship knows I work only for Mavra. If they want to stab her in the back, they have to get me first. If they want to get at me, the easiest way is to get you._  
  
Later is was: _Always let me know where you'll be._ It had seemed a sensible precaution at the time.   
  
Then: _Don't leave without telling me._  
  
And then: _You stay here until I get back. It's safer._  
  
 _Goddamnit, I said **stay here**. Can't you fragging **listen?**   
  
I'll **make you** listen to me! _  
  
He twitched once, a nervous tic that he couldn't seem to shake anymore, then busied himself cleaning the cabin. Terinu's clothes from yesterday were piled in a heap on the floor of the 'fresher, so Matt picked them up and dumped them into the sonic cleaner. Then he did the same for the dishes in the compact kitchen area. When he found himself compulsively dusting the corners of the walls for the third time he sat down on a floor pillow and turned on the ship's entertainment system. As always it was 90% porn, leavened with movies that consisted mostly of high-speed chases and explosions, with a dash of fetishistic documentaries on the latest weapon systems. Which was a combination of the porn and the action movies in a way, Matt thought.   
  
After a half-hour of this, the door slid back and Terinu entered, frowning, tail swishing in agitation. He glanced once at Matt on the floor, then unbuckled his weapon belt and hung it up on the rack by the door. The razors embedded in his tail spade were flicking in and out, _snick-click, snick-click_ , deadly little flashes of silver that could cut a man’s arm to the bone. It wasn’t a good sign.   
  
“H-hi, Terinu,” Matt greeted him cautiously. Terinu didn’t stay anything. He just prowled back and forth through the cabin, looking into the ‘fresher, opening and closing the cabinet doors, glancing at the ceiling lights, checking for anything out of place that might indicate hidden bugs or hidden bombs.   
  
Finally, when Matt though the constant _snick-click_ of Terinu’s razors might drive him mad, the younger Ferin boy stopped in front of him, tail now stilled.   
  
“Stand up, Matt,” he said softly.   
  
Matt did as he was told, biting his lip. It would be over sooner if he didn’t try and argue. He’d learned that lesson quick enough.   
  
“What did you think you were doing, Matt?” Terinu asked, his voice low, dangerous. “Lady Mavra told you not to talk to the prisoner. _I_ told you not to talk to the prisoner. All you had to do was stick his food through the fragging slot and _walk away_.”   
  
“I-I’m sorry,” Matt muttered. He didn’t look down or try to break from Terinu’s angry gaze. That would only make things worse.   
  
“He’s _sorry_ ,” Terinu mocked, opening his arms up and looking up towards the heavens. “Hear that? He’s fragging _sorry_!”   
  
Matt grimaced. “Okay, I made a mistake...”   
  
In a flash, Terinu’s tail whipped around, the razors snapping out, _snick!_ , tearing through the front of Matt’s tunic, leaving it shredded, the vulnerable skin underneath untouched. _Click!_ “Yeah, you made one frelling _big_ mistake, Matt. You didn’t fragging _listen to me!_ ” Terinu’s tail whipped around again, ripping through the back of the tunic, leaving a long, shallow, bleeding score along his right shoulder blade. Matt winced in pain and drew in a breath, as the remains of his tunic fell to the floor, leaving him bare chested. The razors clicked shut, and Terinu’s gray tail wrapped around his chest, pinning his arms to his sides. “What didja think you were gonna do, Matt?” Terinu demanded, his tail spade wrapping around the back of Matt’s head, forcing it down to look at the Ferin boy’s face. “Thought you might get a better deal with him, huh? Thought you might have a shot at gettin’ off this tub?”   
  
“N-no! He was talking crazy, Terinu!” Matt exclaimed, panting as he felt his chest constrict as the grip of Terinu’s tail tightened painfully. “Ugh! Please, that hurts!”   
  
“Hurts? Oh, it ain’t started to _hurt_ yet, ya stupid traitor!” Terinu shouted. He foot swung out and kicked Matt behind the knees, sending him falling, landing on his stomach as Terinu's tail spun him around like a top. Then the Ferin boy landed on top of him, legs straddling his waist, grabbing Matt's wrists and twisting them up between his naked shoulder blades. Matt cried out in pain as Terinu wrapped his belt around his wrists, pulling it tight and securing the buckles.   
  
"Y'know what I did ta that little grey wimp after you left, Matt?" Terinu growled into his ear, his breath hot on Matt's neck. "I hit him with a few zaps to his collar ta let him know I wasn't real happy about him tryin' to take ya away from me. He dropped to floor and was screamin' before the third zap. Ya think someone like that could protect ya from Chan? _Do ya?_ "   
  
Matt gasped for breath. "No! No, Terinu! Please, ya gotta believe me! Please!"   
  
"We'll see what kinda song yer singin' in a couple of minutes," Terinu snarled. He lifted up his tail and slapped a button on the annunciator panel with the spade. "Terinu to Ship's Mess. Tell Cookie that Townsend won't be makin' to his next shift, and maybe not the one after that either!"   
  
In a few minutes, Matt wasn't in much shape to give any answers at all.  
  
* * *  
  
“Hey, Ru,” Lance said softly, glancing down the bar, on the edge of what passed for Bolt Hole’s spaceport.  The place was crowded, with wall-to-wall scum, rubbing shoulders with each other as they took turns shouting down the harried bartender.  “Your bro there doesn’t look so well.”  
  
“I am painfully aware of that,” Rufus answered, _sotto voce_ , as he kept an eye on his twin.  His brother was at least presentable, in a freshly laundered flight uniform and with his fur neatly combed, but it would be a gross exaggeration to call him _well_.  At least he’d learned to keep his hands on his lap and out of sight, after Captain Blake had caught them shaking during the pre-mission conference.  But it was impossible to hide the weary, wrung out look in his eyes, or the nervous tapping of his foot pad on the floor as the bar’s disreputable patrons looked them over.  
  
“At least you look like you’re fitting in,” Lance noted.  Rufus had taken the extreme step of temporarily dying his fur to differentiate himself from his brother, now a much darker roan color, and putting away his flight suit for a patched and worn pair of trousers and a multicolored quilted vest in a Wedding Ring pattern, all borrowed from his brother’s wardrobe.  It was about as opposite from his customary dress as he could manage, even if the dye did make his skin itch.  “Look,” Lance continued, “I still think we should send him back to the shuttle…”  
  
Rufus shook his head sharply.  “ _No_ , just... give him a chance, please.”  An uncharacteristic feeling of doubt ran through him, as he recalled the incident in the bathroom stall.  His brother had been remarkable contrite, or at least quiet, after that.  He’d busied himself setting the calibration on his _White Knight’s_ new chin gun, occasionally pausing to shake, and had spoken no more about the incident.  If he’d taken another hit after that Rufus hadn’t caught him, and he’d managed to follow Rufus’ course to where the _Suhayar_ waited without difficulty.  
  
There, Rufus had been thankful to find that Captain Blake had opted for a stealthy approach, choosing to paint one of her ship’s superliminal capable shuttles in civilian colors and outfitting the Marine landing party in plainclothes.  The amount of firepower they were toting along might have been cause for panic on any other world, but on Bolt Hole it barely attracted notice, and they were taken as just another band of heavily armed thugs making spare cash as mercenaries or bruisers for hire as the situation allowed.  
  
“I just don’t know why you’re sticking your neck out so far for this fella, Ru,” Lance said.  
  
Rufus shook his head.  “He is myself, Lance.  As near as I’ve been able to find, his life was exactly the same as my own, until he chose to take the _Blue Horizon_ run.  That means he must have my will and my honor inside of him somewhere.  He still had enough shame in him not to want Bethany to see him in this state at least.”  
  
“The _Blue Horizon_ was lost over seven years ago, right?” Lance asked.  “He’s had more than enough time to try and make up for it.  Instead he’s wallowed in his own sh—  self-pity ever since then.  He ain’t going to start making up for it now.”  
  
“You’re wrong,” Rufus said.   _You have to be wrong,_ he thought.  
  
Lance touched him on the shoulder, bringing him out of his brooding.  “Here’s the Major,” he said, as Talbot entered the bar.  Lance’s commander caught their eye, and motioned for all three of them to meet him out on the street.  A tall man with a footballer’s build, Talbot led them into a secluded side alley for a conference.  
  
“All right, Lieutenant, Captains Brushtail,” the Major began.  “My Lieutenant Freeman has finished scouting the position of the two _Marauders_.  They’re parked at the most extreme corner of what passes for Bolt Hole’s spaceport.  Nice and out in the open, not a damned bit of cover to be found, and swarming with heavily armed, anti-social types.”  
  
“That doesn’t, ah, sound terribly promising,” Rufus’ brother noted with trepidation.  
  
“Not normally, no,” Major Talbot agreed.  “Fortunately we have an in.  We tapped into the com traffic of Chan’s usual heavy equipment supplier.  They’re going to be bringing over new containment magnets for the damaged _Marauder’s_ primary fusion reactor in two hours.  We’ll be replacing the contents of the shipping crates with ourselves.”  
  
“Come close enough to get the element of surprise,” Rufus concluded.  
  
“Hopefully close enough to get under her guns’ maximum traverse before we attack,” Lance said.  That was enough to make Rufus’ brother look distinctly green under his fur.  
  
“You and your Captain Brushtail are familiar with the interior layout of the _Marauder_ , Lieutenant,” Taylor continued.  “I’ll be counting on you both to lead us inside and to the probable locations of our targets.  Have you picked up any information to confirm that they’ll be aboard?”  
  
“Scuttlebutt in the bar is that Chan, either of them, haven’t left their ship.  If Ter--, the throat cutter we’re looking for is really her personal pet, then she isn’t likely to step onto shore without him, especially not with her ship in such a vulnerable position,” Lance told him.  
  
“Good,” Talbot nodded.  “All right, we go in, grab our target and the Captain’s twin if we can, and then get out.  After the second team disables the other _Marauder’s_ guns, we’ll bring the shuttle in for pickup and then go the hell home for a beer.”  He paused to check his watch.  “Meet me at the rendezvous point in one half-hour gentlemen.”  
  
“Yessir,” Lance replied, checking himself before offering the major a salute in public.  
  
“Oh, and Lieutenant,” Talbot continued, in a much quieter tone, when Rufus’ brother was distracted by a fight emerging from their recently vacated drinking hole.  “Are you certain your Captain Brushtail’s… _counterpart_ will not be a liability on this mission?”  
  
“Rufus vouches for him, sir,” Lance said.  “That’s good enough for me.”  
  
“My word as a Brushtail, Major Talbot, he will prove himself to you,” Rufus said firmly.   _Holy Den Mother, please make my words truth._  
  
* * *  
  
 _1340 hours_  
  
 _I think I must be going mad,_ Leeza thought to herself, _I actually **want** to be interrogated.  It would be better than being bored to death like I am now._   She’d been sitting and stewing in this frelling cell for nearly a week now.  The only interaction she’d had with the outside world since Chan had given her that brief glimpse of Terinu’s altrenate self had been with guards delivering her food.  Unfortunately their vocabularies were limited to “Here!” and “Gimmee the old one”, spoken when delivering her food and taking away the empty trays.  Other than that she’d been left alone with her own thoughts.  She’d had a brief surge of hope when there had been a call to action stations a few days ago and the ship had been rocked by what felt like several missile hits, but it hadn’t turned out to the be the rescue she’d been hoping for.   _Or if it was, it failed,_ she thought mordantly.  
  
For perhaps the hundreth time her thoughts circled back to Terinu.  This Mavra Chan had a week so far to play with him.  Would she keep him, trying to break him into a duplicate of the sleek, frightening assassin that he was in this universe?  Was he already dead, killed because Chan either didn’t need two Ferin or judged him too dangerous to keep around?   _No, he has to be alive,_ she thought, _Chan is too much of a sadist not to at least **try** and break his will._   Leeza bit her lip and tried to distract her self again by mentally stripping out the _White Knight’s_ engine core and reassembling it in her mind.  
  
She was midway through trying to re-seat a tricky fuel feed when the cell bay’s door slid open, letting in a glimpse of normal light to contrast with the dim red glow that she’d lived with for a week.  Leeza looked up to see, instead of a guard, a young boy of seventeen, blond haired, blue eyed.   _Matt_ , she thought, remembering Terinu’s descriptions of his only friend when he was growing up on the _Marauder_.  He looked like he’d been in a fight recently.  There was a fading bruise under one eye, others at his wrists, and he was moving in a painfully stiff and careful manner.  
  
“Hey, you’re Terinu’s friend, Matt, right?” she asked, when he slid her meal tray through the cell door’s slot.  
  
The blond haired boy grimaced.  “Not you too.  I’m not talking to you.”  He turned to go.  
  
“Wait, wait!” she shouted after him.  “Are you okay?”  
  
“I’m not talking to you!”  He touched a passkey to the door controls and it slid open.  
  
“Where’s Terinu!  Is he okay?  Did Chan hurt him?  Where are we?  I thought I felt the ship land a day or two back.  Can we get out of here?”  
  
“No you can’t!” Matt said, turning around to face her again.  “You can’t escape from here!  Nobody can, so stop asking!”  
  
“Please,” she begged, “just tell me if my Terinu is alive!  You can at least tell me that, can’t you?”  
  
Matt bit down on his lip, thinking.  “He’s alive,” he finally said.  
  
Leeza blew out her breath in relief.  “Oh, thank God.  Can you take a message to him for me?”  
  
“Fragg no!  That’s it, I’m going before you people get me in anymore trouble!”  The blond haired boy turned to go again.  
  
“Okay, no, forget that!” she said quickly.  “I don’t want to get you into any trouble or get hurt.”  
  
Matt froze again.  Keeping his back to her, he asked, “Why do you and him keep saying that?  What am I to you?”  
  
“Teri’s friend, or at least a version of him,” Leeza said.  “Terinu worries about him, the other you, all the time.  It makes him sick that he escaped from the _Marauder_ and had to leave his Matt behind.  I think he’d rather die than have to do that again.  He loves you.”  
  
Matt hunched his shoulders.  “Love,” he said, then laughed bitterly.  “Love can… hurt you.”  
  
Just what was the relationship between this _Marauder’s_ Terinu and this Matt?  For that matter what was the real relationship between her own universe’s Terinu and Matt, two young men trapped for years on a ship with no one else to turn to for emotional and physical comfort?   _Don’t ask that question if you don’t want to hear the answer,_ she thought.  “Yeah, that’s a risk.  It can make you do stupid things for other people.  Usually it’s worth it though.”  
  
“Maybe,” Matt allowed.  
  
He looked like he was about to turn around and go, when they both heard the sound of a distant, explosive _thump_ and men shouting.  Then a loud alarm began to sound and a voice over the speakers announced, “All hands!  Ground assault in progress!  Prepare to repel boarders!”  
  
Leeza pressed her palms against the thick plexiglass door of her cell.  “Help me!” she shouted.  “Help Terinu and yourself!  We can get out of here!”  
  
“I can’t!” he shouted back.  
  
“Get me out of here and I can protect you!”  
  
Matt bit down on his lip.  Then he limped over to the wall panel and unlocked the cell door.  “I’ll show you which cell bay your Terinu is in.  There are lots of places to hide if we can get him out of there.”  
  
Leeza stepped out of the cell as the door slid back.  “Lead the way!”  
  
  
 _1300 hours (twenty minutes earlier)_  
  
“Are you all ri—“ his twin started to ask again.  
  
“ _Fine_ ,” Rufus snapped.  “I’m perfectly fine.”  Actually he wasn’t fine at all, perfectly or imperfectly.  Realizing that it might be his last chance before he found himself surrounded by a mob of nearly thirty hairless, sweating humans, he’d taken the opportunity when his twin’s back was turned to inject himself with a hit of Juno to calm his nerves.  Except that the Juno didn’t seem to be working this time.  The shakes had stopped but that hadn’t prevented his mind from racing as the sheer insanity of this operation began to make itself clear to him.  
  
 _We’re going to attempt a frontal assault on Bloody Chan, just to kidnap some alien and free a couple of others,_ he thought.   _And you let yourself be talked into going along, **idiot**_   Normal people _avoided_ pirates, especially that one.  Worse, there were apparently two of her now.  With two crews.  Two _heavily armed_ crews.  
  
He watched as the marines picked up the last of the stunned bodies of the warehouse’s employees and laid them in a row in the corner, while another marine pulled out the shipping crates that housed the containment magnets intended for the damaged pirate galleon.   _You don’t have to do this.  It isn’t like they can force you to fight._   The only thing really keeping here was the desire of his twin, who seemed to think that he’d be of some use.  The _sensible_ thing would have been to fly very quickly in the opposite direction from this place once they’d launched from the refueling station.   _So why didn’t you, fool?_  
  
That answer came easily.   _Because he honestly **does** think I might be of some use._   For the life of him Rufus couldn’t figure out why.  But it felt…   _I wish he hadn’t called Bethany.  Damn him for making me feel **ashamed**._     
  
It didn’t matter, none of it mattered.  He’d help his twin get his friends out of here, then he’d fly the _White Knight_ somewhere well out of Mavra Chan’s reach.  There wasn’t any problem in the universe too big for him to fly away from, so long as he had his ship.  
  
“Okay boys and girls, time to mount up!” Major Talbot called out.  “First Platoon, go in the first truck with Lt. Freeman.  Your assignment will be the spike the intact galleon’s guns so they can’t fire on us.  Second Platoon, you’ll be with me and our Freeman’s twin, while we infiltrate the interior of the damaged galleon and locate our targets.  Clear?”  
  
The marines made relatively quiet noises of assent, salutes were exchanged, and then Rufus squeezed between his twin and Freeman in the cargo box of one of the trucks.  
  
“So exactly how much of a deathtrap is this going to be?” he asked rhetorically, as the ancient truck began rolling and bumping over the cracked surface of the tarmac, the temperature in the cargo box rapidly rising to suffocating in the heat of the planet’s noonday sun.  
  
Freeman gave him a cheerful grin.  “Oh nova, this’ll be buckets easier than a boarding action in space.  No chance of getting your armour holed by a stray shot and your blood boiling off in the vacuum at least.  Course we aren’t going to be wearing armour either.”  
  
“What a hopeful thought,” he replied. At a motion from the Major he quieted down, as the truck came to a halt in the shadow of one of the ships.  Rufus held his breath as the marines around him tightened their grips on their weapons, as the driver spoke to the guard at the ship’s perimeter.  Then the truck’s hydrogen motor roared to life again as it backed up to the open cargo lock of the ship.  When it stopped, the Major raised his hand, and thirty marines, Rufus and his twin, all rose as one, facing the truck’s cargo door.  
  
“Come on, you dregs,” he heard a female, nasal, Vulpine accented voice call out as the door was unlatched opened.  “Help me get these containment rings back into Engineering before the Chief gives me any more—“  The door opened to reveal a vixen dressed in dirty coveralls, looking up in astonishment at the array of weapons pointed at her face.  “Oh, _fragg!_ ”  
  
The rifle of the nearest marine fired at point blank range, and her body dropped with a thud to the floor of the cargo bay, a neat, burned dot at the center of her forehead, steaming slightly as the interior of her brain cooked off.  Three more shots took down her human and Creo helpers before they could call out an alarm, and a fourth killed the guard leaning up against the far hatch leading into the interior of the ship.  Then the platoon was rushing forward, spreading out to the corners of the cargo bay, checking for any additional pirates that might hiding behind crates or stowed equipment.  It seemed an eerily silent affair to Rufus.  The shots from marines’ weapons had been near-inaudible, low powered laser shots, barely making a crackle as their superheated light ionized the air.  At a motion from his twin, Rufus followed both him and Freeman as they stepped down lightly from the truck and ran up to the interior hatch.  He spared a single glance back at the dead vixen, as the major and Freeman held a quick, whispered conference.  
  
“Continue forward,” the Major ordered softly.  “Keep them guessing about our movements for as long as you can.”  
  
“Yessir,” Freeman agreed.  “The cell block ought to be one level up and portside, about twenty five meters from the gangway.”  
  
Talbot nodded.  “Right.  Sergeant Gant, the door if you please.”  
  
A marine sergeant touched the hatch controls, as the rest of the platoon moved out of the line of sight of the passageway.  It was barely open ten centimeters when two other marines tossed grenades inside.  Rufus jumped as there was a loud double flash of light and twin _BANGS_ , as the stun and EMP grenades went off simultaneously, disabling anyone in the hallway and frying watching cameras at the same time.  
  
“Go, go, go!” Talbot ordered and the marines rushed forward.  Rufus and his twin followed a moment later into a wide, empty intersection of two passageways.  He clapped his hands to his ears as an alarm began to sound and a voice called over the comm system out “All hands!  Ground assault in progress!  Prepare to repel boarders!”  
  
“Sergeant Gant!  You, Phillips and Captain Brushtail here,” Talbot pointed to Rufus, “hold position and maintain control of this junction.  We’ll move forward and take the main personnel hatch and continue the search for the target!”  
  
“Yessir!” Gant answered, and the rest of the unit moved down the passageway.  Rufus let a small sigh of relief as he realized that most of the potential fighting was going forward with them.  He was safe, for now.  
  
  
 _1330_  
  
Matt led her out of the cell bay where she’d been isolated and into the connecting hallway.  There was an armoured and sealed watch station overlooking the length of the corridor, but it was empty, the guard on watch evidentially having been called away by the alert.  “Okay, your Terinu is in the second bay over,” he said.  
  
“What about my tracker, here?” she asked, holding up the band still locked to her wrist.  
  
“It’s just a shocker,” Matt told her.  “So long as we don’t run into anyone who carries the remote for it, you should be fine.”  
  
“Thank you, Matt,” Leeza said.  “Keep an eye out for visitors while I get Terinu out.”  Matt nodded and gave her his passkey.  She touched it to the cell bay’s door and it slid back, to reveal Terinu sitting on his heels in a corner of his cell.  “Teri!” she hissed, and the Ferin boy looked up, surprised.  
  
“Blake!  How didjya escape?” he asked.  
  
She touched the wall control and his door slid back, allowing him to leap out, tail swishing in agitation.  “I had help from a friend,” Leeza said, heading out with him into the corridor.  Matt was cranking his head back and forth, as if fearing that a pirate might appear at any moment.  
  
“Matt!” Terinu shouted, running up to him, then skidding to halt, arms out, as if reaching out to hug him and thinking better of it.  “What happened t’ you, Matt?  What did that bastard _do to you?_ ”  
  
“Doesn’t matter,” Matt said, turning his face away, “let’s just get out of here.”  
  
Terinu crossed his arms and planted his feet.  “No dice!  What did he do to you?”  
  
“It doesn’t matter!” Matt shouted.  “C’mon!  We have to get out of here now!”  
  
“He’s right, we can talk about this once we’re safe,” Leeza said.  “Matt, can you get me a weapon, or at least a tool so I can pry off Teri’s inhibitor collar?”  
  
“We’re not going to get anywhere near the weapons locker or engineering during an alert,” Matt said.  “We’d better just get out of here.  I know where we can slip into the maintenance ducts and get close to an airlock.”  
  
“Good,” Leeza said.  “Let’s just hope whoever is attacking Chan isn’t interested in us.”  
  
“This way!” Matt palmed the door open, dashing through.  Leeza and Terinu nearly walked over him when he froze though, as they all saw who was waiting for them at the other end of the corridor.  
  
“Think yer goin’ somewhere?” Terinu’s twin asked, his face dark with fury.  “Think yer playin’ the hero, Matt?”  
  
Matt took a deep breath.  “I’m doing the right thing.”  
  
“No, yer doing the _stupid_ thing,” Terinu’s twin growled, pulling out his pistol and pointing in Leeza and Terinu’s direction.  “You two!  Back in yer cells, _now_!”  
  
“Ya think I’m gonna let you hurt Matt again, chump?” Terinu growl, his long tail flicking in anger.  
  
“He’s my meat, Twin.  I’ll do anything I want to him,” the boy with the gun said, smiling ferally.  
  
“No you won’t!”  Before Leeza could stop him Terinu leaped forward, flying down the corridor, bouncing off the wall and leaping again as his twin fired a shot at him.  Leeza and Matt both ducking as it burned the door behind them.  Terinu’s twin ducked low, rolling out of the way as the Ferin boy flew over him, his tail razors snapping out and slashing at Terinu as the other boy’s tail swatted the gun from his hand.  
  
“That won’t help you!” Teri’s twisted twin shouted, his spurs rising up and firing two blasts in Terinu’s direction.  
  
“Too slow!” Terinu shouted back, launching himself off the wall, landing a double-fisted punch in his twin’s solar plexus.  The other Ferin collapsed in a heap, but then his body glowed and suddenly Terinu was dancing backward, as his twin’s Bion aurora spread outward, threatening to burn him.  That gave his twin enough breathing room to get to his feet, scooping his gun up with his tail and flipping it back into his hand.   “Hey, whatsamatter?   Yer Bion ain’t putzing out already, is it?” Terinu taunted from a safe distance.  
  
“Ain’t seen ya use yer’s yet!” his twin shot back, wheezing in a breath.  Then he leveled his gun, not on Terinu, but on Leeza.  “Lay down on the floor, or I’ll fry her brains!”  
  
“How am I supposed to, with this stupid collar clamped around my head?” Terinu asked.  “Give it up!  Ya kill Leeza, then I’m gonna cut yer fragging tail off and feed it to ya, razors and all!”  
  
The other boy glanced at the inhibitor collar that Terinu wore, as if seeing it for the first time.  “She’ll still be dead,” he pointed out.  
  
“Terinu, don’t let him intimidate you!” Leeza called out.  “Just get out of here!”  
  
Terinu’s face twisted in agony and he said, “Fragg it, Blake, don’t make leave!  Not without you and Matt!”  
  
“On your belly, Twin!” the other Terinu shouted.  
  
“Fragg off!” Terinu shouted back at him, glancing helplessly between Leeza and his opponent.  
  
At that moment the door behind his twin slid open suddenly, revealing a crowd of humans and one very welcome Vulpine.  
  
“Marines, _fire!_ ” one man shouted, and two other fellows holding pistols fired and dropped Terinu and his twin before they could react.  
  
“Lance, Rufus!” Leeza shouted, upon seeing faces she recognized.  “What the frell are you doing!”  
  
“Lee, you're all right!” Lance shouted back.  
  
“Hullo, my dear,” Rufus greeted.   “Don't worry, they're both just stunned.  Given the circumstances, it seemed wisest not to wait until sorted out their differences.”  
  
“Fine, fine, but who are these guys?” Leeza demanded, pointing to their companions.  
  
The leader of the armed looked like he was almost ready salute her, but instead offered his hand.  “Miss Blake, ma'am, I'm Major Talbot, Alliance Marines and these are my men.”  
  
“Marines?” Leeza asked, ignoring the major's offered hand.  “Lance, where did you get a squad of Marines?”  
  
“Two platoons actually, and they're not mine, they're your twin's.   She's a Navy captain,” Lance said, slinging Terinu over his shoulder, while one of the marines took the other boy.  “And if you think that sounds wierd, wait until you meet Rufus' twin.”  
  
“Let's save the discussions until we're safe aboard the shuttle, eh Lance?” Rufus said, looking discomfited.  “I fear it's all very complicated.”  
  
“Right,” Leeza agreed.  She looked back to where Matt still stood, trying his best not to be noticed.  “Come on, Matt.  Let's get out of here.”  
  
“Oh, that would be terribly rude,” a mocking, female voice said, as the corridor lights suddenly died.  “Especially when you've got both my Mouse, and his favorite cabin boy with him.”  
  
“What the hell?” Major Talbot shouted.  “How the fragg did she get behind us?”  
  
A moment later the first streak of plasma fire lit the corridor, and the major went down with a burning wound in the center of his chest, his two marines quickly dropping dead beside him.  
  
  
 _1315_  
  
Rufus patted his hip, wishing the pistol he had stowed there didn’t seem so entirely inadequate for personal defense, especially compared to the large, very intimidating rifles that the two marines with him the hallway carried.  Well, it didn’t matter.  Though there had been a loud round of shooting up ahead recently, as the rest of Major Talbot’s platoon cleared the way towards the _Celestial Marauder’s_ CinC and the most probably location of Chan and her Ferin boy, it had actually been quiet for the past several minutes.  That, Rufus hoped, boded well.  He wanted nothing more for everyone, especially himself, to get out of here with their hides intact and with a minimum of gunplay.  
  
 _Tink._  
  
“Did you hear that?” Rufus asked Sergeant Gant softly, his ears pricking up.  It had been a quiet, but distinct, sound of metal on metal.  
  
“Hear wh--?” the sergeant started to ask, just as four pirates, one at either end of the cross corridor, appeared around the corners and fired.  Two shots hit the sergeant, one cooking off the top of his skull, the other striking him in the gut.  The other two shots struck the other marine, dropping him to the floor and leaving Rufus suddenly very alone and outnumbered.  
  
Letting out a cry, he pelted down the corridor, heading back towards the cargo bay where they had entered.  Yellow-white plasma fire seared by him, and Rufus was stuck in the arm by one final shot as he dived through the hatch, searing his fur and the skin underneath.  “Pirates!” he shouted to the half-squad of marines guarding the bay, rolling out of the way of the door and jumping behind a pile of hard plastic cargo boxes.  It was poor cover, but the best he could see, and it least it might hide him while the marines dealt with the threat.  Clumsily, he tugged at the flap of his holster, trying to draw it with the wrong hand while his right arm throbbed in agony.  He heard shouting from the marines, calls to find cover and make certain their weapons were ready.  Then there was the sound of something small but solid being tossed in the room and one of the marines shouted, “ _GRENADE!_ ” as the room was suddenly filled with light and an overwhelming _**BOOM!**_ </b>.  
  
Deafened from the flash-bang grenade, but at least still possessing his eyesight by virtue of being behind his cover, Rufus risked poking his head above the lip of the cargo box, only to duck down again as the body of one of the marines fell backwards across it, his face eye to eye with Rufus' own.  The marine's eyes were wide open, sightless in death, his mouth turned up in an “oh” of surprise.  He let out a frightened yelp that sounded distant and hollow in his own ears, scrabbling backwards on his legs and one good arm, only to bump up against the bulkhead and find himself out in the open.  
  
The room was filled with smoke, obscuring his vision.  There was a humanoid, angular shape some four meters in front of him that he couldn't make out except as a dark fire in a field of grey.  Almost on its own volition, his left hand rose, pistol in his palm, and he tried to draw a bead on the target.  But his hand was shaking so wildly from fear and the pain in his wounded arm that he didn't even attempt to fire.  
  
The figure turned and walked towards him, walking confidentally out of the smoke.  It was a tall human female, with close cut hair died blood red, dressed in an armoured corselet and, instead of an engy weapon, she held a whip in one hand and in the other a long knife.  She looked down on him without fear, only a distant, amused curiosity on her face.  
  
“What's the matter, Vulpine, aren't you going to fire?” she asked.  
  
It was her voice that caught him.  She was less than a meter in front of him now, close enough that even with his shaking hands and poor grip he could have easily hit her.  But he couldn't pull the trigger, as the sound of that amused, knowing tone filled him with fear, memory, and shame.  The pistol fell out of his nerveless fingers and he opened his mouth to cry out, but no sound came.  
  
“Smart little Vulp,” Mavra Chan said, “better that you don't get involved.”  
  
And then the only thing he could see in his mind was the events of seven years ago, and the death of the _Blue Horizon_ , and of his honor.  
  
* * *  
  
 _White Knight!  White Knight, where are you!_ Joli’s voice called out his radio.  Rufus dropped a precious spoofer from the _Knight’s_ defence pod, drawing the missile off his tail long enough to spin his fighter around with its thrusters and fire, blasting the missile before it could regain its senses and get the _Knight’s_ track again.  
  
“Here, Joli, I’m right here,” he called back his wingman, forming up on the elderly _Sniper’s_ two o’clock position.  “What’s your status?”  
  
 _Caught some debris from the cutter exploding, but it just scratched the paint,_ the Creo pilot reported, a young fellow but certainly a capable pilot, though understandably stressed right now.  
  
 _Fighter wing, what’s your status?_ the _Blue Horizon’s_ XO asked, sounding strained.  Being a passenger liner with no guns and minimal shielding was not a comfortable position to be in, especially with the apparently formidable pirate galleon bearing down on them.  
  
“This is the _White Knight_.  My wingman and I will continue missile defence, while Tanner and Murka go for the galleon’s cannon array,” Rufus told them, with false cheer.  The galleon had come out of seemingly nowhere, dropping down from superliminal _far_ closer than any sane shipmaster would allow.  The cutter had been the passenger liner’s main line of defence and it had been taken out immediately.  Still, a well coordinated fighter attack had a chance of at least driving off this intruder, if they could inflict damage that outweighed the potential prize the _Blue Horizon_ represented.   _It’s a passenger liner, so they’re going for hostages,_ he reminded himself, _they can’t just crack open the hull and empty the cargo holds, so they aren’t going to be firing all out._  
  
 _We’re starting our attack run,_ Tanner reported.  Rufus kept an eye on his sensors, watching as the two nimble ships dove in on the galleon, cannons firing, trying to hit their opponents cannon array and missile launchers.   _Murka’s hit!  Murka’s hit!  How can their damned cannon be tracking so f---!_   The radio erupted in an electronic squeal as Tanner’s fighter turned into a thousand confetti tracks on the _White Knight’s_ screen.  
  
Then there was another voice in his ear, female, human perhaps, and very much amused.   _Two down, two to go,_ it said.   _Go home boys, you’re outmatched._  
  
 _Rufus?_ came Joli’s worried voice.  
  
“They’re trying to mess with our heads, lad,” Rufus told him.  “Don’t let them rattle you.  Stick to my wing and coordinate with my fire.  We’ll take out their cannon and force them to go home.”  
  
 _Right,_ Joli agreed, sounding a bit more confident.  
  
 _Your funeral,_ the voice taunted.  Rufus ignored it as best he could, focusing on his instruments and the looming mass of the galleon as it grew in his front windscreen.  Fire erupted from the pirate’s close defence guns, zipping past as the _White Knight’s_ active jamming system disrupted the guns’ targeting computers.  There was the cannon, bracketed by his fighter’s targeting scope...  
  
Take a breath… pull the trigger…  
  
There was a flash outside his cockpit’s window as Joli’s fighter was struck in the power plant, detonating in an explosion that had Rufus pulling the _Knight_ hard to the right to avoid chunks of debris that the flaming hulk was shedding off.  One piece bounced through his craft’s dust jacket, rattling Rufus in his seat as the fighter spun away, out of control, leaving one of the _Knight’s_ aero wings bent nearly double.  He brought her nose back in line and kicked in full thrust, peeling away from the galleon.  
  
 _Just you and me, little **Sleek Wing** ,_ the voice taunted again, _what ever are you going to do?_  
  
The call from the liner was immediate.   _ **White Knight** , the pirate is heading right towards us!  You’ve got to take her out!_ her XO demanded.  
  
He could taste coppery blood in his mouth, where one of his incisors had nearly bit through his tongue when the _Knight_ had been struck.  He swung his fighter around, wrestling with the controls as the craft’s now warped center of mass fought with his flight computer’s version of reality.  “I’ve taken some damage here,” Rufus reported, his heart racing.   _That ship took out the cutter and three fighters in less than ten minutes.  How do you stop someone like that?_  
  
 _For the love of the Den Mother, you’re the only thing standing between us and that galleon!_  
  
“I’m going to get help!” he called back, swinging the _White Knight_ away from both the _Blue Horizon_ and the pirate galleon and shifting power to the superliminal drive.  
  
 _ **White knight!**   You can’t leave us!  We’ve got over four hundred civilians on board!_  
  
 _Smart little vulp,_ the voice on the galleon interjected,  </i>better you don’t get involved.</i>  
  
 _ **White Knight!  WHITE KNIGHT!**_ </b> the XO screamed, as Rufus’ fighter accelerated past lightspeed and the radio channel dissolved into static.  
  
Surely, he only imagined the voice on galleon laughing then.  
  
* * *  
  
“Get down!” Lance shouted, shoving Leeza down to the deck, while Rufus did the same to Matt.   The shots flew over their heads, striking the wall behind them.  
  
“Where’d they come from?” Leeza demanded.  
  
“I don’t know!  Rufus’ brother was supposed to be guarding the corridor junction with a couple of…”  Lance’s face, illuminated in the light of the flashing plasma fire, turned up in snarl.  “Damnit, Rufus, I _told you_ we couldn’t…”  
  
“Later, Lance!” Rufus shot back.  “What say we get out of here first?”  
  
“Right!”  Lance handed his rifle over to Leeza.  “Give me some cover fire, Couz!”  
  
Leeza took the rifle, bringing the sight up to her eye.  Military issue, it features a multi-spectrum sight with infra-red and low-light, giving her a fair view of the darkened corridor and the pirates shooting down the hallway.  They had night sighted rifles too, but were deliberately firing over their heads.   _Probably to keep us pinned down until they can figure out how to get this Chan’s Terinu back without him getting hurt,_ she figured.  She snapped off a couple of wild shots that splashed against the corridor walls, making the pirates duck back as Lance began unfolding something from the pack on his back.  “Lance!  What are you doing?” she called to him, as Rufus kneeled and fired his pistol, hitting one pirate in the shoulder.  
  
“Making a new exit,” he told her, slapping a square frame about 1 meter wide, made of plastic pipes with what looked like clay bricks taped to it, to the wall.  “Cover your ears!” he shouted, dropping to the deck and pressing a button.  The frame suddenly exploded, blowing a neat hole through the corridor wall and into an empty and now thoroughly trashed bunkroom.  
  
“Everyone out!” Rufus shouted, scooping up their Terinu.  Lance tossed a grenade down the passage that exploded and gave them a few more moment of cover while Lance stepped through the hole and took the bodies of the two Ferin as Rufus and Matt passed them over to him.  Then Rufus fired off his pistol twice more as Leeza and Matt scrambled through the opening, joining them a moment later.  She followed as Lance and Rufus each took a Terinu and slung them over their shoulders, everyone moving quickly out into a secondary corridor, heading in the direction of the cargo bay.  
  
“They’re just going to follow us!” Leeza pointed out, as they passes through a corridor hatch.  
  
“No they’re not!”  Lance punched the switch to shut the hatch and it began to roll closed under a metric ton of hydraulic pressure.  Just before it shut he tossed a small stick of plastique into the frame, which began to glow white how, forcing them all away from the hatch.   “Thermite charge,” Lance explained.  “That should seal the hatch and force them to find another route to us.”  
  
“Excellent, Lance,” Rufus said.  “Let’s not delay then.”  They hurried down the corridor, crossing back into the main corridor that went the length of the ship from the boarding locks at the nose of the _Marauder_ to the massive cargo bay in the middle.  Along the way, Lance radioed the platoon leader that was assaulting the other pirate vessel, and received word that its weapons had been effectively spiked by the low-tech but effective method of paint bombing her external visual sensors, making them unable to track human-sized targets.  
  
“Almost home free,” Rufus assured Leeza and Matt.  “We’ll meet up with the other marines in the cargo bay and rush outside.  From there the shuttle will pick us...”  He slowed to a halt and entered the cargo bay.  The doors, which had been open before, were now shut tight.  The marines that had been guarding the bay were lying on the deck down, dead from either plasma fire, or in one gruesome case actually beheaded.  
  
“Wha-what happened?” Matt asked, staring at the carnage.  
  
“Somebody counter-attacked,” Leeza said grimly.  “Quickly, let’s look for survivors.”  Lance and Rufus set down their respective Terinus down on the deck and they quickly fanned out across the room, but it was Leeza who found Rufus’ twin curled up into a ball between two boxes, the body of one of the marines nearly draped over him.  
  
“Rufus!  I found your twin!” she called out.  The aristoractic pilot rushed over, reaching out to grab his brother by the shoulders.  The other Vulpine was shuddering violently, breath coming out in gasps, eyes wide and unseeing.  
  
“What happened here?  What's the matter with you?” Rufus demanded.  His twin didn't answer, merely shaking his head.  “Damn you, speak to me!  What happened to the marines you were with?  Why did you let Chan get behind us!” Still his brother didn't answer, though his mouth opened and closed, as if he couldn't get the words out.  Finally, looking furious, Rufus shoved him in the direction of Lance.  “Put that bloody worthless sot in the truck, Leutenant!  I've got to help Leeza get the doors open.”  
  
Lance took hold of Rufus' twin and started pulling him toward the truck, while Leeza crouched down in front of the cargo bay door controls.  They were security sealed, probably from the bridge.  
  
“Can you get them open?” Lance called out from the cab of the truck.  He turned the engine over and it came to life with a roar.  
  
“One minute!” Leeza shouted back, taking the mini-tool kit Rufus handed her from his belt.  
  
 _Going somewhere?_ Chan's voice boomed out from the cargo bay's loudspeaker system.  The personnel doors on the upper part of the cargo bay opened, revealing more pirates.  A moment later fire started raining down aroudn the truck.  Matt, who had been staying by the stunned bodies of the two fired, let out a cry and dived for cover behind some crates.  
  
“Lee!  The door!” Lance shouted, leaning out from the cab and firing up at their opponents.  Meanwhile Rufus crouched beside her and gave her cover fire while she pried loose the panel and started pulling wires.  
  
“Got it!” she shouted.  The cargo bay started crank upward with agonizing slowness.  “Rufus! We've got to get Terinu and Matt!”  
  
“Right!” Rufus agreed.  He let out a growl and began running towards the boys and Leeza quickly followed.  Behind her he could hear Lance shouting for her to get back to the truck.  
  
The Vulpine pilot had just reached the two unconcious Ferin boys, when a rifle shot grazed his head, dropping Rufus to the ground.  The time seemed to slow as he fell, as Leeza reached out towards him, rfile fire falling like deadly rain around her.  She felt a horrible burning sensation in her leg and she was suddenly falling towards the floor...  
  
...and then she felt nothing at all.  
  
* * *  
  
 _Six hours later_  
  
“At that point, Captain, I couldn't see any way of retrieving either Leeza, Terinu, Rufus, or Matt and the other Ferin,” Lance reported, standing stiffly at attention in the conference room.  It felt as if Leeza's twin was boring at a hole in hs soul with her eyes, listening ot his tale of failure.  “The cargo bay door was open so I punched the accelerator and got out of there.  I picked up the retreating  your Lance and the rest of the retreating marines from the raid on the second _Marauder_ and we high tailed it across the tarmac.  The shuttle met us just at the edge of the spaceport and we hopped aboard.”  
  
“Do you know the status of your Leeza Blake and your universe's Lord Brushtail?” Captain Blake asked, her tone measured, controlled, and quietly furious.  
  
“I saw them get hit and go down,” Lance asked.  He swallowed hard.  “I don't know if it was stunner or plasma fire.  Given Mavra Chan's history in our universe...”  
  
“Understood,” Captain Blake said.  She gave one withering glance towards Rufus' twin, sitting in his conference chair silently, arms wrapped around himself, shiverring, even though the room was quite warm.  “To what would you attribute the raid's failure?”  
  
“We got ambushed, Captain, attacked from behind” Lance told her, also looking at the Vulpine.  “Somebody wasn't guarding our backs like they were supposed to.”  
  
“I see,” she said.  Turning back towards her universe's Rufus she asked, 'Do you have anything ot add, Lord Brushtail?”  
  
He glanced up from where he'd been staring at the faux woodgrain of the conference table for the past hour.  “No, Captain.”  
  
“How did the pirates get past you?” Blake asked.  
  
“I... I told you.  They attacked us in the corridor.  Sergeant Gant and the other marine were... killed.  I ran back to the cargo bay, and Chan's people slaughtered the rest of the marines guarding it.”  
  
Captain Blake's expression didn't change.  “And why are you still alive, when they aren't?”  
  
“I... I don't know,” he admitted miserably.  
  
“You don't know,” she repeated coldly, standing up from the conference table.  “Lord Brushtail, out of consideration for your family's status in the Vulpine government, I will _not_ throw you in the brig as you deserve.  Instead you are confined to quarters.  I strongly advise you to stay in them.  My crew  is disciplined, but even they have their limits.”  
  
“But I didn't do anything...” he began to say, then shut up and merely muttered, “Yes, Captain.”  
  
Blake nodded, the turned back to Lance and his brother, who'd been sitting beside him quietly, not adding to the show any more than was needed.  “Leutenant Freeman and Freeman, escort this... noble... to his quarters.  I've got to figure out a way to salvage something from this mess before it gets any worse.”


	4. Chapter 4

Terinu woke up to find himself lying face down on the floor of the cargo bay, stomach clenching in stunner nausea.  He swallowed back on his bile and a moan.  He was going to be in enough trouble with Lady Mavra as it was, without puking and mewling like some kid on a liner that just figured out pirates weren’t any kind of fun.  He pushed himself onto his back and stared up to see Lady Mavra herself looking down on him, looking none too happy.  
  
“Milady,” he greeted.  He would have gotten up to bow properly, but his legs didn’t seem to be working yet.  Instead he grabbed the edge of a crate and pulled himself up to a sitting position.  His twin was lying on the ground, still unconscious and being hogtied into a set of shackles.  Lying near him was Matt, also still out, hands cuffed behind him.  Terinu felt a wave of anger wash over him that gave him the strength to push himself to his feet.  He wobbled a bit and then said, “How may I serve you, Milady?”  
  
Her eyes narrowed.  “You can explain, Mouse, how you managed to let yourself be ambushed and captured, and how you let Mr. Townsend let the prisoners out of their cells.”  
  
“Even I woulda had a hard time trying t’ beat four mooks armed with rifles.  As it was they got the drop on me.”  He didn’t add that he’d been feeling fatigued already, close to being fagged out from having to expend so much Bion trying to beat his twin.  He knew Lady Mavra had to be in a foul mood already, to be calling him by his old, hated nickname.  She wouldn’t be interested in excuses. “And I didn’t **let** Matt release the prisoners.  That was all his doin’.  He already knew I was pissed about him just talkin’ t’ the skirt.”  His tail slapped the floor.  Damnit, why had Matt done something so flaming _stupid_?  
  
“Consider yourself lucky.  Instead of being kidnapped yourself, we’ve got an additional prisoner.”  Chan gestured over to the body of a Vulpine lying on the deck, the same one that Terinu had seen in the brief moment before he’d been stunned, near the skirt that Matt had also let loose.  
  
“What ‘r ya goin’ t’ do to him?”  
  
Lady Mavra looked thoughtful, “He’s got some sort of awful dye job in his fur, which makes me wonder what he’s trying to hide.  If it turns out that he’s twin to the other Vulp that got away, I suppose I’ll just have to start breaking his fingers until he tells me who he and his counterpart are.”  
  
“Let me know if ya need him worked over,” Terinu said, walking over to where Matt still lay.  He grabbed the human teen, pulling him, still only half-conscious, to his feet.  
  
“What do you think you’re going with that, Mouse?” Lady Mavra asked, her voice suddenly going flat.  
  
“Back to our quarters,” Terinu answered.  
  
Chan took hold of Matt’s elbow, pulling him out of Terinu’s grip.  The human boy fell down to his knees and let out a confused moan.  “He’s not going anywhere except to the brig.”  
  
Terinu’s spurs flattened against his head and his tail lashed.  “He’s mine.”  
  
“No, Mouse, he’s mine,” she replied, taking hold of Matt’s scalp.  “I just let you play with him.  He’s going to the brig with the rest of the prisoners.  What I do with him after that will depend.”  
  
“On what?” Terinu pushed.  
  
“That’s for me to know, and _you_ not to worry about,” Mavra said sharply.  “That’s an order.”  
  
Terinu opened his mouth, trying to protest further, but the words died in his throat.  Instead he merely answered, “Yes, Milady,” and watched as Matt was hauled away.    
  
His eyes dropped down, looking at the strange collar locked to his unconscious twin’s head.  It fitted perfectly, looking smooth and polished.  It wasn’t some one-off jury rig that had been put together at the last minute.  It was something that had been made for his twin a long time ago.  
  
 _Made for me._  
  
He frowned and stomped back to his quarters, spurs down, tail still lashing.  
  
* * *  
  
He crawled from the debriefing, metaphorically, back to his cabin, escorted by Lance and Lance.  No words passed between the two large humans and himself.  He strongly suspected if he’d attempted to say anything, all he would have earned was a broken jaw to accompany the plasma burn on his upper arm.  
  
“You stay in there,” one of them said, opening his door for him.  The other gave him a sharp shove between his shoulders to help him into the room, sending Rufus to his knees.  “You try to leave before we’re out of this and able to drop you off somewhere, we’ll give ye quick trip out the airlock without a suit, got it?”  
  
“I hear you quite clearly,” he replied.  The door slid shut with a thunk, leaving him sitting on the floor in the darkness.  He didn’t feel inclined to get up, but eventually biology overcame inertia and he went into the ‘fresher to relieve himself.  When he was done, he washed his hands, looking at his ragged reflection in the mirror.  Bloodshot, tired eyes stared back at him, on a face with fur that was in bad need of grooming.  He flicked his ears back and snarled at his reflection.   _Worthless sot._  
  
He sat in the cabin’s only chair, feeling his hands shake in Juno’s familiar first-stage post-dosage letdown.  After that would be a couple of hours of lethargy, unless he took another dose soon.   No, the last he wanted to do was drift off to sleep right now.  It would mean running the risk of dreaming.  
  
He reached over and grabbed his kit bag off the bed, running claw bottom seam, tearing it open.  Five ampoules of Juno dropped into his lap from where they had been hidden.  He cut through the seam on the opposite side and another five dropped, the remnants of his stash, kept there for just such an emergency.  He scooped them up with both hands and set them down on the cabin’s small desk.  He’d have to re-use one of the injectors that his brother had thrown into the garbage, but that wasn’t such a risk.  It wasn’t as if he had to worry about giving _himself_ a nasty disease.    
  
Obsessively, he set each ampoule upright, in a neat little line.  His hands were shaking so bad that he had to do it three times before they all stood properly.  Ten little ampoules.  Ten little slices of Heaven, however temporary the stay.  One would steady out his nerves, focus his vision until all distractions were stripped away except for the target in his ship’s sights.   Two at once would send him in a pleasant sleep for the night, banishing the demons that waited in the back of his mind.  
  
And if he took three, perhaps four or five, what would happen then?  How many could he inject into his veins before his system collapsed, his brain shut down, his heart and lungs stopped, overwhelmed by the drug’s calming power?   _All of them, if I’m quick enough._   A fitting end for someone like himself, worn down, tired, empty, alone.   _Oh, Great and Holy Den Mother, show me someone more wretched than I,_ he thought wearily.  
  
 _You know of three,_ a gentle vixen’s voice spoke in the back of his mind.   _Leeza Blake, Terinu and your brother._  
  
 _Yes._   So his mind was going mad even quicker than he thought, for him to start hearing holy voices.  It was enough to make him laugh, a short bark.   _Welcome, Great Lady,_ he greeted mockingly, _you’ve been gone from my life for some time._  
  
 _I have never left your life, Ru-Ofanius.  You merely chose not to hear me._  
  
 _As you wish.  Are you here to conduct me to my place beside the fire in your den?  May I finally take my leave of this world and find some peace?_  
  
 _If you wish.  All of my children are welcome there, if they have conducted their lives with honor, honesty and charity._  
  
He sighed.   _Ah, then there is no place there for the likes of me, the dishonored, lying thief.  I shall wander through the snow then, in moonless darkness, cold, alone._  
  
 _Do you imagine you are without honor?_  
  
 _I let fear rule me during that raid, as I let fear rule my actions when I ran from the **Blue Horizon**.  For that crime, my brother is now the captive of a cruel warder, along with his friends, and will not survive long_  
  
 _You made a mistake._  
  
 _My need for my drug overwhelmed me and I bent to its will.  I am weak._  
  
 _Yes._   This truth, spoken so plainly, burned.  
  
 _Then what is left for me?_  
  
 _Your mother,_ she said.  
  
He shook his head.   _I have dishonored myself before her.  Begged for money, spending it on drugs and drink, leaving our House poorer for my indulgences._  
  
 _Bethany._  
  
 _Better I be dead, than her see me like this.  She imagines me a hero, when all I am is a waste._  
  
The Den Mother’s voice took a sharp tone.   _Do you imagine her love for you is lessened, for all the pain your absence has given her?  Would you throw away her gift of love, by letting your life slip away?  Would you make the pain in her heart for you a stone, bound to her soul, to carry the rest of her days?_  
  
“What would you have me do then!” he shouted out to the empty room.  
  
 _Rescue your brother._  
  
“I tried that already.  I failed.”   _As I have failed at everything._  
  
 _If you and he still live, you have not failed.  You merely have not succeeded yet._  
  
“And if he dies?”  
  
 _Then you wil have tried and failed, but at least you will have tried.   Have you lived in your drunken world so long that you have forgotten the most basic of my teachings?  The only true sin is to see one in need, and **not try** to help them.  Failure may always be forgiven, to do nothing at all is **damnation**_.  
  
“But Milady, have you not seen... I am already damned,” he said aloud, then laughed once, high pitched, near hysterical, before before he clamped his hands over his muzzle for fear of retribution from whomever might be passing in the corridor.  
  
 _Those you abandoned sit by my fire.  Did you not hear your brother's words?  Had you stayed to defend them, you would be with them now._  
  
“You contradict yourself, Holy Den Mother,” he said.  “How can you forgive a coward?”  
  
 _The same way I forgive a drunk and addict, by giving them a chance at redemption.  Do not spurn my mercy so readily, Ru-Ofanius._  
  
“My brother gave me the same opportunity.  It was a mistake.”  
  
 _It was not._   And she said no more.  
  
He sat there for along while, unmoving, staring down at the neat little line of Heaven and death in front of him, unsure if they were real, or merely figments of his vision, as the Holy Den Mother had surely been a figment of his hearing.  
  
“Redemption,” he said softly, then added, “and perhaps Justice, if you would, Great Mother Goddess?”  But she did not reply to that.  
  
His hand reached over to the enunciator panel and pressed down.  “Brushtail to Captain Blake,” he said.  
  
A male voice answered, the ship's XO, answered.  “Captain Blake has instructed the system to refuse your comm calls, Viscount Brushtail.”  
  
“Get her on, anyway,” he said.  “I have a proposition for her, to help the next rescue attempt.”  
  
The XO's reply was frosty.  “I seriously doubt she wishes any more of your help, Viscount.”  
  
He smiled, feeling as if he would float up to the ceiling.  “How about a willing sacrifice?”  
  
* * *  
  
Terinu threw himself foward, yanked short by the wrist and leg cuffs pinning him spreadeagle to the cell wall.  He fell back and slammed his head against the bulkhead, trying to snap the inhibitor collar locked to his head.  
  
He was starting to frelling _hate_ these wierd universes they kept dropping into, where people traveled through circular Stargates, and others where there weren't any aliens at all, just humans and some genetics mods like the Quaddies.  But those were simple to deal with compared to the one he was in now, and the tormentor he faced.  
  
"Listen t' me!" he shouted at his captor.  "Y' gotta let me go!  Y' gotta help the others!  Matt, Leeza, Rufus... Chan's gonna kill 'em!"  
  
"So what's that t' me, Twin?" his mirror answered.  The other Ferin boy looked back at him with Terinu's own face, arms crossed, leaning against the opposite wall.  His hair was shaved short, the better to show off the three gold rings hanging off his right ear.  He wore black fighting leathers, and over one hip was slung Terinu's own sword, and the other a wicked looking plasma gun.  "Why would I want t' screw with my boss?"  
  
"You'd let her kill Matt?"  
  
"Hey, she let me kill Brooks.  Not that the stinkin' bastard didn't deserve it."  His mirror smirked.  "Matt was always to much of a wimp to make it worth hangin' around him, anyway."  
  
"Y' think Chan is yer buddy?  She'll run you through the second she thinks yer not worth her time!"  
  
"Maybe," his other self allowed, and then his grin sharpened.  "Which is why I'd better stay on her good side.  So I think I'll just leave y' where you are, Twin."  
  
Terinu's fingers wrapped around the chains of his cuffs, pulling them tight in frustration.  He had only one card left.  "Listen to me," he said carefully.  "You let those three die, y' think y' can just walk away?  What are y' gonna say to Melika about it, if y' see her again?  What would Melika think of y', if she ever found out what you are?"  
  
His mirror frowned, looking confused for a moment.  "Who's Melika?"  
  
* * *  
  
 _”Townsend!”_ the voice called behind Matt, with enough of growl that he didn’t recognize it immediately.  He turned around and froze.  
  
“Oh, hello,” he said carefully, setting the down the box he’d been carrying.  More parts to help bring the other Lady Mavra’s _Celestial Marauder_ back online, which the other Assistant Engineer Frani had asked for.  Though this one didn’t seem to have the permanent case of mange and sinus infection of the one Matt knew.  “Can I help you, ah, sir?”  It seemed, given the annoyed expression on this Terinu’s face, not to mention the gun at his hip, and the weird piercings on his tail, a safe assumption to call him “sir.”  
  
The other Terinu backed Matt up to the wall, his tail lashing.  “Answer a question for me, who the fragg is Melika?”  
  
Matt blinked.  “Hu?  Oh, Melika.  Terinu, my Terinu, used to talk about her a lot.  She was his mom, sorta, while he was growing up at the cabaret.  Took care of him and everything.  Vulpine lady.  He said she sang really nice.”  
  
“Grew up?  How long was he there?” Terinu demanded.  
  
“I don’t know exactly.  Three, four years, maybe.  He was seven when I met him, I was already on the _Marauder_ when he came aboard.”  
  
Terinu ran his finger along one of the long braids hanging from his scalp, looking thoughtful.  “My Matt was younger when we met.  He still knew the ship better than I did though.  Kept me fed, kept me alive.”  
  
“Yeah, I did the same thing for my Ter,” Matt agreed.  Then he frowned.  “Hey, how could you know about Melika?  My Terinu only talked to me about h—“  
  
The other Terinu’s tail slashed the air in front of Matt’s face.  Literally slashed, as deadly looking razors popped out the implants in his tail.  “You keep your mouth _shut_ , Townsend.  Ya got that?”  
  
Matt’s eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t back down.  “You had to have heard about her from my Terinu!  Where have you seen him?”  
  
“None of yer business, Townsend,” the other Terinu hissed.  “Now get your tail back t’ work, and pretend we never had this conversation.  Because if I ever find out you blabbed about it to someone, I’ll cut yer throat out with my tail, got that?”  
  
“F.A.B.” Matt said, ducking his head down and grabbing the box again.  The other Terinu was still standing in the same spot when he dared glance backward, his eyes seeming to want to burn a hole in the bulkhead.  
  
* * *  
  
 _We need to talk,_ Mavra’s twin said over the comm, sounding irritable.    
  
Mavra herself smiled, leaning back in her chair, propping her boots up on her desk.  “I’m listening, but make it quick.  I’m still inventorying the damage those intruders inflicted on my poor ship.”  
  
 _Did you find out who they were?_  
  
“They were too well organized to have been from another pirate lord.  I’m betting they were marines from those three GSA warships.  I’m still in the process of interrogating that Vulpine we captured, though he’s being a bit stubborn.”  
  
 _He’ll break, they always do.  Would you like Brooks to come over and help with the questioning?_  
  
“No thank you,” Mavra demurred.  “Brooks tended to be a bit too rough on the prisoners.  Hard to get answers out of them with their jaws wired shut.”  
  
Her sister didn’t laugh at the joke.   _There’s one more thing I’d like to discuss with you.  I believe you have something that’s mine._  
  
“Oh?”  Mavra’s smile widened.  
  
 _You’ve got one Mouse already.  I’d like mine back._  
  
“Now who told you that?”  
  
 _It doesn’t matter how I found out.  I want him back and I want him back **now**_  
  
“Not my fault you couldn’t hold onto him,” Mavra told her.  “Besides, I like the idea of having a back up.  Maybe if I can find a clever enough moddie doc, I can have a breeding pair.”  
  
 _I don’t think you’re looking at this in the right way.  I’m the one whose ship has a working weapons system._  
  
Mavra didn’t let her annoyance enter her voice.  “And I’m the one who has the pirate fleet in this universe.  Which is on its way to provide orbital protection while my ship completes repairs.  Don’t forget, you’re all alone here, Mouse or no, and I’m your only ally.”  
  
The comm clicked off without another word.  
  
* * *  
  
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is our situation,” Captain Blake began, an hour later in the cruiser’s conference room.  “In our two encounters with this pirate force we have been soundly repulsed.  The loss of the _Wilson_ and most of her crew was bad enough to swallow.  With the additional casualties we suffered in our marine detachment during the ground assault, the situation had become untenable.  At this time I do not believe it is possible for us to capture our target as instructed.  Nor do we have the capability of retrieving the hostages that the pirates hold.  We simply do not have enough ground pounders to assure success.”  
  
The _Suyahar’s_ officers, including both Lances, nodded grimly in agreement.  Her own Lance, newly promoted to the command of the ship’s marine detachment upon the death of Major Talbot, looked particularly stern.  “Are we going to retreat and regroup, Captain?” he asked.  
  
“Partially,” she said.  “We’ll be transferring the survivors from the _Wilson_ over to the _Namatjira_ and have them proceed to the nearest friendly port to receive advanced medical attention.  Once they are clear of Bolt Hole’s system, we’ll move into the planet’s orbit finish the job.”  
  
Her XO asked the obvious question, “But I thought you said we didn’t have the forces to successfully capture our target.”  
  
“We don’t,” Blake replied.  “Instead we’re going to load up five of our remaining missiles with neutron warheads and launch them at the spaceport, before either of the _Marauders_ can launch again.  We won’t be able to retrieve our target, but at least he won’t get away.”  
  
Lance and Lance let out a simultaneous, “You can’t _do that_ , Lee!”, and even her XO looked shocked.  
  
Blake’s tone turned cool.  “I beg your pardon, Lieutenants?”   
  
“Captain, you can’t just _nuke_ the _Marauder_ , either of them!” her cousin’s twin exclaimed.  “Rufus and Terinu are still prisoners. Hell, your own _twin_ is down there!”  
  
“I don’t believe you quite understand the importance of this mission, Lieutenant,” she said.  “We can’t let this individual…”  
  
“His _name_ is Terinu,” Lance’s twin interrupted.  
  
“…the target to get away.  Period.  Admiral Blake’s orders were very clear on that point.”  
  
“Even so,” her Lance said, “don’t you think using nukes is a bit overboard, Captain?  The spaceport is in the middle of a densely populated area.  Civilian casualties are gonna be huge.”  
  
“Bolt Hole is not part of the GSA, Lieutenant,” Blake told him.  “It’s an independent world in a disputed territory and an open shelter for pirates.  The latter point, arguably, makes it the enemy of the Alliance.  We are under no obligation to observe the standard rules of war when addressing its population.”  
  
“That’s a rather… fine legalistic point, Captain,” her XO said cautiously.  
  
“Duly noted, First Officer,” Blake told him.  Turning back to the Lances, she said, “As for you two, I will ignore your outbursts, but see that don’t happen again.  Unless any of you have operational suggestions to make, you may consider yourselves dismissed.”  
  
“There is one other matter, Captain,” her XO said, as she stood to leave.  “Prior to this discussion, I received a request from Viscount Brushtail.  He wishes to make a personal attempt to rescue Mavra Chan’s hostages on his own, without any support from the task force.”  
  
“Denied,” she said frostily.  “I’m not going to have him fall into Chan’s hands and start spilling vital operational information.”  
  
“Well, technically, all he knows is what we told him about the last operation,” her Lance pointed out.  “Actually, I think his counterpart knew a bit more, and he’s already her prisoner.”  
  
“The request is still denied,’ she said.  “You are _dismissed_ , Lt. Freeman.”  
  
Lance looked as if he wanted to say more, but kept his mouth closed except for a simple, “Aye, Captain.”  He departed with his twin, neither of them looking happy.  
  
“We launch in three hours, First Officer,” she said to her XO after they were gone.  
  
“I’ll see to the loading of the warheads then, Captain,” he replied, bowing to her slightly.  At her wave of dismissal he left, the door swishing quietly behind him, leaving her alone.  Blake hadn’t expected any of them to happy about her decision to use nuclears.  Even nearly six hundred years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it wasn’t something any human military officer considered lightly.  But given what was at stake, they were necessary.    
  
The alternative, failure at the task her father had given her, was unthinkable.  
  
* * *  
  
Out in the corridor Lance glanced at Lance, sure the same thought was running through both their brains.  “We can’t let her do this,” he said.  
  
“We’ve got our orders,” his brother answered.  
  
“Oh, yeah, that’ll keep ye warm at night.”  
  
His brother rolled his eyes.  “You don’t know Leeza when she’s got her captain’s cap on.  She’s not going to change her mind.”  
  
“I didn’t say we had to change her mind, I said we had to stop her.”  
  
“Mind telling me how?  We gonna just waltz into the armoury and tell ‘em to put those warheads back?  That’ll work real well.”  
  
Lance banged his fist against the bulkhead.  “Look, while your cousin is going to be sitting a nice comfy tactics room, mine is going to have a brace of nukes dropped down on her!  We’ve got to do _something!_ ”  
  
His brother nodded, looking unhappy.  “I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just wondering what we’re supposed to do.”  
  
Lance considered for a moment.  “Maybe… maybe if a small team could get through.  We’ve taken on Chan before and won, with less than we’ve got now.”  
  
“She’ll never authorize a ground mission, mate,” his brother pointed out.  
  
“So we don’t ask.”  
  
“I think they’ll notice if we try and borrow a shuttle.”  
  
“How about if we use your Rufus’ fighter?  He’s still a Vulpine lord.  If he raises a big enough stink…”  
  
“Lee will just clap him in restraints and chuck him into the brig,” his brother pointed out.  “And her dad will back her when the Vulp Council of Lords screams about breaking the Treaty of Species.”  
  
“But what if he slips out?”  
  
“A fighter is still a bit hard to miss.”  
  
Lance grinned.  “Not if it leaves with the proper flight authorization.”  
  
“Hack into the ship’s security system, you mean?  Do I look like a cyber glider, mate?”  
  
“If you’re as good at faking ID cards as I am, it shouldn’t be that hard.”  
  
His brother frowned, then nodded.  “One problem though,” he pointed out.  
  
All the humor evaporated from Lance’s face.  “Right,” he said.  “Let’s see if he’s dried out yet.”  Then headed down to the ship’s main housing deck, where a pair of walking wounded marines from the _Wilson_ were standing guard outside the Vulpine’s quarters.  
  
“I’m sorry, Lieutenant,” one of them said apologetically, “but the Vulp isn’t supposed to leave his quarters.  Captain’s orders, sir.”  
  
“He’s not leaving, we’re going in to have a little, ah, _talk_ with him,” his brother told the marines, cracking his knuckles suggestively.  The one marine raised his eyebrows, then smiled slightly and waved them inside without another word.    
  
Stepping inside, they found Rufus pacing back and forth across the tiled deck of his cabin, looking irritated and hyper.  “Ah,” he said as they entered, coming to a halt and turning to face them.  “Did Captain Blake agree to see me?”  
  
“Nope,” Lance’s brother said laconically, leaning up against the wall.  Rufus eyed him with suspicion.  
  
“If you’ve a mind to beat the fragg out of me over what happened planetside, I’d appreciate it if you’d get it over with.  I’m not in the mood to waste time debating my obvious personality flaws,” the Vulpine said.  He looked better than he had before, having cleaned and donned fresh clothes, and there was something in his face that seemed sharper, more focused.  Of course there were plenty of drugs that could account for that at as well.  Lance’s eyes glanced over to a line of ten drug ampoules lined up in a neat row on the cabin’s small table and he frowned.  
  
“What have you been doing in here, Brushtail?” he asked.  
  
Rufus grinned at him.  “Having a religious experience.  Not from that,” he said hastily, gesturing at the drugs on the table.  “I haven’t had a dose since we were on Bolt Hole.  Anyway, what did the Captain have to say?”  
  
“She’s not letting you go,” Lance’s brother told him.  “Lee has decided that the best solution to end this whole FUBARed operation was to nuke both of the pirates and our target out of existence.”  
  
“ _What?!_ ” Rufus shouted, looking shocked.  “Is she out of her Goddess given _mind_?  She’ll kill my brother!”  
  
“And my cousin,” Lance said.  “Not to mention how ever many thousand civilians happen to be in the blast zone.  The word “subtle” seems to have left her vocabulary.”  
  
“I don’t think it was ever in there, mate,” Lance’s brother said wryly.  “Anyway, neither of us are happy about it, but we aren’t in a position change her mind or make a rescue attempt ourselves.  You’ve got a chance to get off the _Suhayar_ and maybe do something though.  The XO said you wanted to try for a rescue.  You got a plan, mate?”  
  
“Something of a plan,” Rufus admitted.  “Though I will admit it didn’t go much beyond taking the _White Knight_ and ramming into one of the _Marauders’_ engineering core, to eliminate at least half the threat.”  
  
“No good,” Lance’s brother said.  “It’ll kill you and one of the pirate ships, but that still leaves one of the Mavra Chans with the prisoners.  Assuming you were lucky enough hit the ship that didn’t have them aboard.”  
  
“True,” Rufus said.  “I’m rather short on options however.  My abilities as a commando are sadly lacking, you’ll note.”  
  
“Listen,” Lance said, “if you can get that bloody inhibitor collar off of Terinu, that will solve half your commando problem right there.  Once the kid gets his mad on, he’s pretty frelling hard to stop.”  
  
“Marvelous,” Rufus said sourly.  “I’m welcome to any suggestions as to how I’m supposed to get close to him.”  
  
Lance looked down at the table with its line of little ampoules.  “How much of one those things do you have to take, to get a realistic set of the shakes?”  
  
* * *  
  
There was more art than science to the trick of knowing when to show up in the CinC just before a major action, Blake reflected.   Too late, and a ship’s captain might miss some vital detail that needed a last minute correction.  Too early and you ended up looking over your subordinates’ shoulders while they’re trying to do their jobs.  She usually ended up just staying in her office sorting through the ever accumulating paperwork until her XO called her.  The Galen had an almost supernatural ability to suggest she walk up to the tactics room just before a crisis occurred that required her intervention.  
  
Of course there were times, like now, when he could be a little off.  
  
“Would you please repeat that?” she asked, after hearing his report.  
  
“Lord Brushtail has launched his fighter and is returning to Vulpine Prime, Captain,” he said again.  
  
“And what gave you the idea that he was _permitted_ to launch his fighter, First Officer?” she asked sharply.  
  
“I checked the security log,” he said.  “You signed off on removing the security lock on his _Sleek Wing_ over an hour ago.  It’s in the ship’s records, Captain.”  
  
With a snarl, Blake brought up the ship’s security log, a detailed listing of items from the major, such as what aspects of their mission the crew was permitted to discuss with civilians (practically nothing), to the minor, such as petty thefts that had been reported to the ship’s Internal Security department.  There, under the heading of Flight Operations, was a notation with her initials and security code, lifting the flight restrictions on Brushtail’s fighter.  A further check noted that the pair of guards at his door had also been recalled by her, at the same time as his fighter was released.  
  
“The records have been altered illegally, First Officer,” she said.  “I never gave any order that Brushtail be permitted to leave.”  
  
“Why would anyone on board wish to alter the…  Oh, dear,” the XO said, his voice trailing off in dismay.  
  
“First Officer, have _both_ Lieutenant Freemans brought to my office with an armed escort.   _Now!_ ” she ordered.  “And then inform the Ordinance officer that the missile launch schedule has been accelerated by one hour.”  
  
“That isn’t going to leave much time for the proper arming check on the warheads, Cap—“  
  
“Just _do it,_ ” Blake said.  “I want the launch to proceed before Brushtail has a chance to spill our attack plan to Mavra Chan, either of them.”  
  
“Yes, Captain.”  
  
She took a deep breath.  Things hadn’t gone completely south yet.  There was still a chance to pull a success out of the ongoing disaster, if she was quick enough.   _The mission is not going fail.  The mission **can not** fail,_ she thought.  She had been charged for its success by the Admiral himself.  She wasn’t about to give up now.  
  
She couldn’t.


	5. Chapter 5

From her small box in the cell bay, now subdivided to accommodate her new roommates, Leeza watched as two guards dragged Rufus back to his cell, directly across from hers and next to the one Matthew occupied.  They threw him in, the Vulpine dropping to the steel floor with a thump, and closed the door.  Only after they were gone did he let out a low moan, clutching his stomach, one hand tucked under his opposite arm.  
  
“Rufus, are you all right?” she asked, while Matt looked at him with alarm through the transparent wall of his cell.  “What did they do to you?”  
  
“I’m fine…” he replied, breathing deeply and keeping his eyes closed.  “They tried some interrogation drugs on me, trying to get me to tell them what I knew about Captain Blake’s attack plans.  Fortunately, they didn’t have anything compatible with Vulpine biochemistry.  Gave me a terribly sour stomach though.”  
  
“Is that all?” Matt asked.  
  
“Er, no.”  Rufus held out his right hand.  Leeza winced as she saw three of his fingers had been broken, bent backwards at a painful, unnatural angle.  “I sincerely hope nobody asks me to fly anything more complicated than a paper airplane any time soon,” he said.  “Actually, I’m not sure I could manage that much if I had to fold it myself.”  
  
Leeza kicked the heavy composite door in front of her.  “There has to be a way out of here.  Lance and my twin must be working on some kind of rescue plan.”  
  
“I’m certain of that dear.”  Rufus smiled in hope, though he kept his eyes shut and slumped a little closer to the floor.  
  
The cell bay door opened again.  Leeza looked over in surprise as the guards dragged a second Vulpine inside, wearing an achingly familiar green and gold flight uniform.  They dumped his body into the remaining cell next to her’s, slamming the door shut.  Then he rolled over, giving Rufus a cheery wave.  
  
“By the Holy Den Mother, what are _you_ doing here?” Rufus demanded, then out a moan and clutched his stomach again.  
  
“Oh, didn’t you realize?” his twin answered with a maddening giggle.  “I’m your daring rescue.”  
  
“You’re our _what?_ ” Rufus demanded.  
  
“Rescue.  Daring,” his twin repeated, grinning like an idiot.  “You know, dramatic escape, maybe a sword fight or two, a kiss from your lady vixen at the end.  Don’t worry, everything is going to plan.  Well, my plan, at least.  Presumably Captain Blake’s plan has been scuppered, I hope.  If not, things might get a trifle hairy if we don’t move quickly.”  
  
“Why is that?” Leeza asked.  She felt the deck plating underneath her shiver, along with a hum increasing in pitch as the _Marauder’s_ engines spindled up.  
  
“Ah, apparently not,” Rufus’ twin said, glancing in the direction of the engine room.  “No doubt Lady Mavra has decided to vacate the premises, what with the nuclear missiles and everything.”  
  
Leeza blinked, opened her mouth to say something, closed it, then after careful consideration started again.  “ _What_ nuclear missiles?”  
  
“The ones your counterpart is launching at Bolt Hole.  Five of them, with neutron warheads, right at the space port.  Which strikes me as overkill to an extreme, but I gather she’s not a very happy captain right now.”  
  
With his good hand, Rufus rubbed his forehead, looking as if he had a terrible headache coming on.  “And how, dare I ask, does Mavra Chan know about these missiles?”  
  
“Oh, I told her.”  
  
“ _What!_ ”  
  
“It’s all part of my clever plan.  I came to her, with a _lovely_ case of the shakes and crying that Captain Blake had tossed me from her vessel after that horrible fiasco of a rescue attempt, and begged to be made part of her pirate crew, imparting what I knew about Captain Blake’s plan of attack.  I figured it was the best way to get close to all of you to affect a rescue.”  
  
The thin, careworn Vulpine was sporting a wide grin on his face as he related this.  Leeza couldn’t decide whether he was overwhelmed by his own supposed cleverness or had just gone completely ‘round the bend.  “Minor problem.  You’re in _here_ , not the crew quarters.”  
  
“Ah, there is that.”  Rufus’ twin grabbed his own tail and ran his fingers through it, pulling out a small electronic device.  “Electronic lock pick, small enough to be hidden in my tail.  Only another Vulpine would think to look there.”  He pressed it against the frame of his cell and Leeza heard a loud _click_ as the magnetic bolts pulled back.  With an effort, he pressed his paws against the smooth surface of the cell door and pushed back into its alcove far enough to slip out.  The effort, mixed with the fact that he still appeared to coming down off of some pharmaceutical high, left him breathless.  After a moment he regained his strength and opened Matt’s cell, pulling it open more easily with the boy’s help.    
  
He turned towards Rufus’ own cell door when the hatch the cell bay opened unexpectedly.  Both he and Matt froze in place as one of the guards that had brought Rufus’ twin inside side stepped in, a strange expression on his face.  Then the pirate toppled forward to land in a heap on the deck, the hilt of Terinu’s short sword sticking out of his lower back.  He was followed by a smirking Mavra Chan, Terinu’s twin, and Terinu himself.  The latter was bound with heavy electronic manacles at his wrists, ankles, and even one that kept his lashing tail in place with a short cable that connected to his inhibitor collar.  
  
“Mouse, if you would?” Mavra said.  Terinu’s twin smiled, his spurs glowing.  A short blast of bion struck Rufus’ twin, dropping him to the floor with a cry.  “Honestly, I’m not sure who was more of an idiot, my guards for not checking that Vulpine’s fluffy tail, or him for not thinking that I’d keep a bug running in my cell bay to monitor what my prisoners are saying.”  
  
“Back in yer cell, Matt,” Terinu’s twin said, motioning to the human boy.  
  
“Belay that,” Mavra said, leaning against the bulkhead, arms crossed, with studied casualness.  
  
“Yer letting him go?” Terinu’s twin asked, looking both surprised and pleased.  
  
“Of course not, Townsend is a traitor, attempted deserter and has no one who could pay a decent ransom for him anyway.  That and I don’t think I care for the idea of your loyalties being divided, Terinu.” She smiled slightly.  “ _Kill him._ ”  
  
“What?”  All of the arrogance dropped out of the Ferin boy’s face as he heard her order.  “Lady Chan, he ain’t worth…”  
  
“Be quiet.”  Mavra stood away from the wall, taking hold of the boy’s shoulders and leaning her face close to his.  “Listen to me, Mouse.  You are going to turn around.  You are going to grab your best friend Matt by the throat.  Then you are going to power up that wonderful bion of yours and blast his head off, just like you did to Brooks.  That is an order.”  
  
“I… I…”  Stiffly, like a malfunctioning robot, Terinu’s twin turned around, Leeza and the others watching in mute horror as he faced Matt.  “Milady, _please._ ”  
  
Mavra’s voice was low, silky and dangerous.  “You don’t have choice, Ferin.  Your entire race were made to be slaves and you _must_ obey your Master.  This one lesson you will always remember.   _You have no free will, save which I allow._ ”  
  
“Teri?” Matt asked, his eyes wide.  
  
“Stupid… stupid…  Why couldn’t you have just _listened to me?_ ”  Terinu’s twin asked him desperately, grabbing hold of the boy by his throat.  A mass of bion, crackling like ball lightning, began to form between his spurs and run down his arms towards Matt.  
  
“Stop it!” Terinu shouted, trying to rush forward to grab his twin, tripping over his restraints and landing on his knees.  “You don’t have to do it!”  
  
“He can’t help it.  You know that,” Mavra mocked.  
  
“Listen!” Terinu shouted at his twin, as bion touched Matt’s throat and the human boy let out a choked scream.  “You’re always gonna have a Master, but you can _choose who they are!_ ”  
  
His twin froze and the terrible, his hands dropping away from Matt’s throat.  Then the Ferin boy dropped to his knees, clutching his head and letting out a cry.  
  
“It’s a lie, Mouse.  You can’t fight what you are,” Mavra told him, smiling down on his agony.  
  
Finally he looked up at her, a weird, fey gleam in his eyes.  “Yeah,” he breathed, “I can!”  The pirate barely had time to grab the hilt of her shortsword before Terinu’s twin leaped on top of her, toppling her to the ground.  “You want my power?  Have all you can take!”  
  
Leeza ducked down and shielded her eyes, as the boy began glow, his bion power filling him, before it poured out between his spurs like a plasma torch, striking Mavra in the center of her face.  The pirate lord didn’t even have time to scream before her decapitated body dropped to the deck.  
  
There was a long moment of silence, as Terinu’s twin curled up into a pained ball from the effort of expending so much bion and fighting his conditioning.  After a moment it was broken by Rufus’ brother, who lifted his head off the floor and said calmly, “Ah, _that’s_ why everyone is so keen to grab the lad.”  
  
Leeza stuffed her hand in her mouth, fighting off a hysterical giggle.  Regaining control she called out, “Matt, are you all right?”  
  
The blond haired boy nodded, clearing his throat painfully.  “I’ll be okay,” he rasped.  He picked up the lock pick off the floor and pressed against the lock for Rufus’ and Leeza’s cells, then Terinu’s restraints.  The boy rubbed his scalp gratefully as his spurs rose up from his head for the first time in a week.  
  
“What now, do you think?” Rufus asked as he helped his brother up from the floor, the latter making bleary reassurances that he could walk on his own.  
  
“Get Terinu’s inhibitor collar and restraints on his twin and then see if we can make our way to the ship’s shuttle bay and see if our _Sniper_ is still there to fly.”  
  
“I saw it there when I landed my fighter,” Rufus’ brother answered, standing up.  “We could take all six of us if a couple of people don’t mind sitting in another passenger’s lap.”  
  
“Right, lemme just finish with this,” Terinu said, as he finished connecting his unresisting twin’s restraints.  Then he pulled his short sword from his twin’s belt and methodically began prying the implanted razors from his twin’s tail, leaving behind a bloody hunk of skin and exposed muscle.  
  
“Teri!  What are you doing?” Leeza demanded.  
  
“Even with his tail cuffed, I ain’t havin’ him in _my_ lap with those fragging things in his spade.”  
  
Leeza frowned, but she couldn’t argue with the boy’s dreadful logic.  Still, she turned to Matt and asked, “Are you all right with that?”  
  
“I… I guess,” he said, wincing as another blood-covered tail razor dropped to the floor.  “I…  would it sound strange to you, if I told you I pity him?  I mean, I know… I know he hurt me.  But he wasn’t always like you saw him.  Not always.”  
  
“One shouldn’t just give up on anyone,” Rufus said gravely.  “The ability to feel compassion for one’s, er, _antagonists_ marks the difference between a civilized being and a mere sociopath.”  
  
“Do we have to feel sorry for her, too?” his brother asked, gesturing to Chan’s body on the floor.  
  
Rufus struggled manfully not to smile.  “Everything has its limits.”  
  
They all jumped as the cell’s enunciator buzzed and Captain Aynish’s voice called out, _Captain to Lady Mavra.  Forgive me for interrupting your recreation, but your counterpart wishes to speak to you, Milady._  
  
“Oh, fragg,” Leeza muttered.  She cleared her throat and activated the enunciator, trying to match Chan’s raspier tones, “Put her through, Captain.”  
  
 _Are you all right, Milady?_  
  
“Fine,” Leeza growled.  “Put her through.”  She motioned for Terinu, who had finished de-clawing his evil twin, to let Rufus and Matt pull the other Ferin to his feet and all start moving out into the corridor.  
  
 _Chan to Chan.  Launching are you?  Where the Hell do you think you’re going with my Mouse?_  
  
 _Oh, I’ll bet you’re burning about that one,_ Leeza thought.  It was comforting to know that there was no love lost between the two pirate sat least.  
  
 _Answer me, you fragging…_  
  
Terinu hopped up to the enunciator and said sweetly, “Sorry, that was Leeza.  I’m right here, Chan.”  
  
 _Mouse!  What’s happening over there?  Where is my twin?_  
  
The boy grinned ferally.  “She can’t come to the comm right now.  She’s havin’ a bit of a lie down after _my_ twin decided top change bosses.”  
  
 _You’re not going to get away from me, Mouse,_ Mavra growled  
  
“You haven’t caught me yet, Chan, and you’re never gonna.  Stew on that for a while.”  Terinu killed the enunciator and turned to Leeza, “We’d better get out of here.  I’ll clear the way.”  
  
“Was that wise to taunt her like that?” Leeza asked, pulling Terinu’s twin to his feet with the help of Rufus’ brother.  
  
“Maybe not, but it was sweet t’ do,” the boy replied.  “Come on, let’s get out of here.”  
  
* * *  
  
Mavra fought the urge to slam her fist through some piece of expensive equipment, as her ears burned from her Mouse’s insult and the tactics room crew very carefully avoided looking in her eyes.  Instead she turned to Aynish and demanded, “Can we follow them?”  
  
“Launch prep will be complete in less than two minutes, Lady Chan,” he reported.  “We’d probably be able to catch her, given the amount of damage her ship has suffered, but then we’d risk being caught in one place while we effected a boarding action.”  He motioned towards the tactics room’s display.  At the very edge of the screen were a series of blips, coming from several directions and all vectoring towards Bolt Hole.  
  
“My sister’s fleet.   _Fragg!_ ”  She slammed her fist down on the console in front of her.  “That tears it, we’re bugging out.  I am not going to let us be caught here when she gets the upper hand in firepower.  Plot a course back to the gravity anomaly and prepare to transit it.  This universe has just become too unprofitable to remain.”  
  
She sat back in her station chair as the _Marauder’s_ crew ran through their launch checks.  For a moment, she wondered if Mouse’s little kiss-off to her meant that her sister was dead, or merely disabled.  
  
 _Does it matter?  
  
Nah._  
  
* * *   
  
“Captain, the two target vessels have launched from Bolt Hole and appear to be heading out-system,” the _Suhayar’s_ sensor officer reported.  
  
“Frell,” Blake muttered, as the tracks appeared in the main display.  “That drug snorting Vulp moron sold us out.  Weapons Officer, reset the missiles to track the target vessels directly.”  
  
“Aye, Captain,” he said, then reported, “the missiles are only going to be able to catch up with one of the ships, ma’am.”  
  
“Which one?”  
  
“Our universe’s _Marauder_ , Captain.”  
  
“We could try to intercept it instead,” her XO suggested carefully.  “It’s separated from the other pirate and we’d outnumber it 2 to 1.”  
  
“I am not putting any more marines at risk with a boarding action,” she said.  “Besides, we’ve got pirates crawling in from all directions to hook up with her and the other Chan.  No, we’re going to take that ship out quickly, cleanly and not leaving so much as a dust mote behind.”  
  
“What about the other _Marauder_ , Captain?”  
  
“It’s going beyond our range and it never was our original target.  As much as I’d like to kill it for what they did to the _Wilson_ , we’ve got to be pragmatic here.”  
  
Her XO’s voice went strangely dry.  “Of course, Captain.”  
  
* * *  
  
Getting forward from the _Marauder’s_ brig to the shuttle bay was proving to be an exercise in speed and sheer aggressiveness on the part of Terinu, Rufus reflected.  The young Ferin was cheerily working off a week’s worth of anger and frustration on every pirate that had the poor luck to get in the boy’s way.  So far, none of them even had a chance to sound out the alarm before Terinu’s bion blasts and good old fashioned head knocking took them out.  It helped that between the original attack on the ship and the subsequent failed marine assault that her crew had been diminished by a fair amount, leaving few idlers to wander the corridors.  
  
“How much further do you think?” Rufus’ brother asked.  He was doing his best to shoulder the burden of the other Terinu with Matthew’s help, while holding a pistol liberated from a pirate who no longer had use for it in his other hand.   
  
“One more corridor, behind this hatch, and we’re home free,” Terinu told him.  “Get ready to open it, Blake.”  
  
“Okay, Teri,” she placed her hand on the control panel, getting ready to open it.  
  
That was when the ship’s announcement system blared an emergency bleat and a male Galen voice called out, _All hands, alert stations!  The prisoners in the ship’s brig have escaped and have killed Lady Mavra!  All hands to your stations!  Guards are to be doubled at all critical point.  All hatches and emergency bulkhead seals are to be locked down!_  
  
“Fragg it!  Get through!” Terinu shouted, throwing open the hatch itself.  He leaped into the corridor, where four guards stood at the open doorway leading to the shuttle bay.  Terinu’s bion blast struck the first pirate squarely in the chest, sending him flying into the bay.  Rufus pulled Teri’s unconscious twin through the first hatch, Leeza, Matt and his own brother following.  Behind them, the hatch began cranking shut automatically, as was the door in front of them.  
  
“Terinu!  The hatch!” Rufus shouted, trying to get a clear shot at the remaining pirates.   The Ferin dodged a punch from one of the pirates, his tail wrapping around the legs of another and pulling him off his feet to crash in a heap on the ground.  
  
“No!” Rufus’ brother shouted, then let go of his load, running forward before Rufus could grab him.  Terinu, busy with the remaining two pirates, was unable to stop him as the Vulpine slid through the door, nearly half-shut.  
  
“You cowardly…!” Rufus began to shout, as his brother punched at the hatch controls.  The door kept rolling shut.  Only Terinu was in any position to slip through before it would close and latch, trapping Leeza, Rufus and Terinu’s twin in the corridor.  
  
His brother slammed at the hatch override one more time, then gave Rufus a desperate look.  Then as Rufus watched in dawning horror he seemed to come to some sort of decision.  With careful precision, as Terinu finished off the last pirate, his brother jammed his upper right arm in the narrow alcove where the door would have closed and latched itself, and then pressed his hand into a large hole, meant to grab the one of the opposite magnetic latches that would have sealed the door and their doom.  He let out a pained cry as the hatch continued to roll forward to the sound of crunching hand and wrist bones, before it stopped.  Though the door’s electric motors continued to whine in protest, it was jammed open by the most brutal of brute force methods that Rufus could imagine.  
  
“Just don’t stand there gawking!” his brother shouted.  “Get through, for the love of the Holy Den Mother get through!”  
  
“Oh, by the Goddess,” Rufus mutter softly, as he and Leeza quickly dragged Terinu’s twin forward, shoving him under his brother’s arm and then slipping underneath and into the shuttle bay along with Terinu and Matt.  His brother’s _White Knight_ and Leeza’s _Sniper_ were right there, waiting for them to escape.  “Leeza, get that bloo--  get the hatch back open!  Hurry!”  
  
“I… I don’t… think… there’s…” his brother gasped, then let out a pained howl as his arm began to visibly _bend_ as the door moved again.  There was a horrible, deep noted _crack_ and for a split second Rufus could see the splintered remains of his brother’s forearm ripping through his uniform jacket, before the hatch rammed shut.  
  
His brother’s eyes were wide and his mouth agape in pain and surprise, but no breath came though his lips.  For one horrible moment Rufus thought the crushing shock of the door had killed his brother outright, but after a long moment he drew in a shuddering breath, as Rufus’ companions could only stare on in silent horror at the bloody scene.  His brother’s right arm and shoulder had trapped in the hatch’s alcove, crushing it completely and pinning him down.  
  
Leeza let out a gasp then moved over to the control panel, until Rufus grabbed her arm.  “No, we can’t open it now,” he told her.  
  
“Are you fraggin’ nuts?  We can’t leave him there!” Terinu shouted.  
  
“He’s… he’s right…” his brother gasped.  “I’d just… _ahhh!_   …bleed to death.”  
  
“We aren’t leaving you behind!” Leeza told him.  
  
He shook his head.  “You don’t… have a choice!   _Go!_ ”  
  
“Leeza,” Rufus said softly, taking his brother’s good hand, “get Matt, Terinu and his twin into the _White Knight._   It’ll be desperately tight, but it will only be a for a short flight.   You can blast open the bay doors with her guns and escape.”  
  
His brother shook his head wildly.  “No, no!  You’ve all got to get away!”  
  
“I am not going to let you die alone, brother.  Not like this.”  
  
“No!  You must get away!  All of you!  Everyone!  Or I’ll have failed… and it won’t _mean anything!_ ”  
  
Leeza glanced at Terinu, biting her lip.  “We’re all leaving,” she said.  
  
Matt looked pale.  “Miss Leeza, even if you get the hatch open, he’d bleed to death in a couple of seconds.  I’ve seen it happen, when some poor fella got caught underneath a falling strut and they lifted it away.”  
  
“He won’t bleed to death if the wound is cauterized,” she said.  
  
“How are we supposed t’ fraggin’ do…” Terinu started to ask, then went pale.  “No!  No way, Blake!”  
  
“You can do it, Terinu,” she told him.  “You’ve got enough control over your bion that you can cut away his arm and cauterize the wound cleanly.  If we try to use an energy pistol we could kill him.”  
  
“You can’t ask me t’ do that, Blake!”  
  
“Whatever… you’re going to do… please be quick,” Rufus’ brother said.  His feet went out from under him and Rufus had to grab him before he fell and yanked what was left of his shoulder out from under the door.  “Missiles are coming in… and I doubt… Captain Blake is going to let… this ship get away…”  
  
Rufus kept his grip on his brother’s hand, watching as a slow trickle of blood seeped from under the seam of the door.  “Terinu, please.  It’s the only way.”  
  
“Fragg!”  Terinu bit down on his lip, then placed hand over point where the Vulpine’s shoulder met the door.  He took a deep breath and his hand began to glow as the bion gathered, the energy flowing out from him and into the terrible wound.  Rufus’ brother let out sharp, pained cry, then his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell away form the door, unconscious.  Where his arm and shoulder had been there was only smoking, smoldering flesh now, rising up from his body with a smell that made Rufus gag.  
  
“It’s done, now we must be going.  Help me load Matthew and my brother into the _Knight’s_ passenger seat,” Rufus said, throwing his brother over his shoulder.  For one moment of awful humor he thought, _Well, at least he’s lighter than when I carried him out of that brothel._  
  
“Can you fly with your fingers mangled like that?” Leeza asked.  
  
“I’ll manage.  Now we must hurry!”  
  
It some agonizing minutes, but they managed to stuff Terinu and his twin in the side seat of the _Sniper_ and Matt and Rufus’ brother in the back of the _White Knight_.  Rufus quickly powered up his brother’s fighter, thankful he’d fixed up into fighting trim before dragging the poor fellow into this maddening adventure.  “Are you ready to go, Leeza?”  
  
 _Ready._  
  
“Then here we go.”  Rufus flipped the weapons lock on the _Knight’s_ chin guns from NAV to WAR then touched the trigger lightly.  Lines of red fire sprang from the fighter’s metaphorical fangs, blasting through the doors of the hanger bay.  He fired a quick burst from the retro-thrusters to keep the little ship from flying uncontrolled through the damaged doors as the atmosphere blew out through the hole, then eased her forward through the opened, opening up the thrust as soon as he was clear.  “Max power to your rear shields, Leeza, in case they fire on us we leave!”  
  
“Gotcha!”  Her fighter eased through the opening and then quckly flew away, matching vectors with Rufus.  “Do you think they’ll turn and go after…”  The comm channel screeched in his ear as a bright light lit up space behind him.  
  
“Leeza!  Leeza, are you all right!”  He pivoted the _White Knight_ on her axis in the direction of the _Celestial Marauder_ , only to see a field of glowing, shattered debris.  
  
 _We’re okay, Ru,_ she said, sounding shook up as her fighter reappeared on his sensors, the interference from the blast fading.   _I guess your brother wasn’t kidding about the nuclear missiles._  
  
“I suppose not,” he agreed.  He turned the fighter around again, tapping in a course towards the last position of the _Suhayar_.  “Come on, Leeza.  Let’s go home.”  
  
 _Aye._


	6. Chapter 6

Leeza sat across from Captain Blake in the conference room, sipping her first cup of coffee in a week, trying to keep her head from exploding from sheer cognitive dissonance.  “So you thought the best solution was to drop a salvo of nuclear weapons down on your target, since you couldn’t get at him directly?”  It was less than twelve hours since they’d rendezvoused with the _Suhayar_ , which was now well out of Bolt Hole’s system, heading towards the Terran Federation border.  When they had reached the little fleet, she’d thought they’d finally found safe shelter.  She couldn’t have been more wrong.  
  
“It worked,” Blake replied tightly.  “We have our target and a major pirate warlord is dead.”  
  
“Dad must be proud of you,” Leeza said, smiling fixedly.  She set her coffee cup down before she could do something really foolish with it.  
  
Rufus who was sitting next to Leeza and had been listening to the exchange with a sour expression on his face, said, “I assume, given this…   _success_ , that you are going to release young Mr. Townsend and both Lances from custody then.  Not to mention release our Terinu from confinement in his cabin.”  Captain Blake had very nearly thrown the boy into the brig next his twin, apparently on general principles.  However she had been shouted down by both Leeza and Rufus, after they pointed out that he’d been integral to their rescue and helping preserve the life of Rufus’ brother, who was still unconscious in sick bay.  
  
“Lance and Lance conspired to enter falsified data into my ship’s secured computer system.  Mr. Townsend has been tried _in absentia_ for participating in acts of piracy and therefore…”  
  
“Is not subject to prosecution because he was under the age of eighteen at the time they were committed.  The same goes for your Terinu as a matter of fact.  Null argument,” Leeza said flatly.  “Unless things the laws here are different of course.  If not, you and Dad don’t have a legal leg to stand on.”  
  
“Sexual assault doesn’t have an age limitation,” Captain Blake pointed out.  
  
“You have no proof of that.”  
  
Blake’s expression turned frosty.  “The ship’s surgeon begs to differ.”  
  
Unfortunately on that point the captain was likely right.  In the brief time she’d had to speak to Matt, she hadn’t pressed him on the details of the relationship between himself and the other Terinu.  Though it was obvious going by what happened to Mavra Chan that the boy cared deeply for his human friend, there were undercurrents to it that that disturbed her and upset her own Terinu badly enough to take pleasure in mutilating his twin’s tail.  “I think you’d agree that pressing charges on that matter is Matt’s prerogative.”  
  
“I don’t.”  
  
Rufus cut in sharply.  “Then if you believe him to be a victim, would you kindly explain what he’s _doing in the brig?_ ”  
  
“I don’t want him going anywhere.  Bluntly, if his mind is as confused as any other victim of long term abuse, he might try something foolish and attempt to help the Ferin to escape.  I will not allow that.”  
  
Leeza waved Rufus down before he could try a counter-argument, trying to gather her thoughts.  Frell, the woman sitting across the table was _herself_ , at least on the genetic level.  If she’d been raised by Vonnie as Leeza had, that had to mean that there was integrated BS detector in her brain somewhere.  “Look, have you _asked_ Dad why he wanted Terinu so badly and what he intends to do with him?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
Captain Blake leaned forward in her seat, templing her fingers together.  “I’m a naval officer.  I don’t question orders.”  
  
“And the fact that he gave you command of a three ship fleet in order to capture a single pirate didn’t seem the least bit _curious_ to you?”  
  
“Of course it did, but my curiosity cannot compromise my mission’s security.  If the Admiral wants that boy that badly, I can only assume there’s a good reason.  If he has the same energy generating ability as your Ferin though, I can make a reasonable guess.”  
  
“Look, you just _can’t_ hand him over to Dad’s pet science team.  He wants nothing more than to dissect the boy to see what makes him tick.”  
  
Blake nodded in seeming satisfaction.  “Well then, it’s a good thing I’m giving him two to play with.”  
  
Leeza felt the blood drain away from her face in shock.  “No!  You can’t do that!”  
  
“Ms. Blake,” the captain said calmly, “I have achieved mission success only by the slimmest of margins.  One third of my fleet has been destroyed.  Between the loss of the _Wilson_ and the failed ground assault we suffered over three hundred casualties.  Even if we did succeed in cutting off the head of one of the largest pirate fleets in the disputed territories in addition to capturing the Ferin, that still leaves me with a very high price for success.  One of them might be enough to satisfy the Admiral, but two would give him much more than he was expecting.”  
  
“Out of the question!” Rufus said.  “He was never your target, we’re all here by accident!  You have no authority to hold any of us!”  
  
“If the Ferin are as big a threat as Admiral Blake believes, I would be incredibly foolish to let an additional example just go wandering off,” Blake said firmly.  “The rest of you, of course, will be free to go once you’ve signed the necessary Official Secrets documents.”  
  
“We are not leaving without Teri,” Leeza said.  “That’s final.”  
  
“Why are you assuming you have a choice in the matter?”  Blake touched the conference table’s integrated com pad.  “First Officer, have ship’s security come to the conference room and escort Ms. Blake and Lord Brushtail to their quarters.  They are to remain there until the sick bay gives me assurance that the other Vulpine can be moved safely.  Then they’re all leaving.”  
  
“I can’t leave here without Terinu,” Leeza said, rising up from her seat.  “I’m his legal guardian, and leaving him here with you is as bad as permitting his murder!”  
  
Captain Blake looked her and let out a tired sigh, but before she could say anything further the com pad beeped and she answered it, “Blake here.”  
  
 _Captain, we have four ships approaching us on an interception vector,_ the XO reported.   _They’re each approximately twice our size and power output._  
  
Blake straightened up in her seat, her attention fully engaged.  “Have they transmitted any identification?”  
  
 _Negative.  They appear to be of a design that the ship’s computer can’t identify.  But they’re putting out enough power to overtake us easily._  
  
“Pipe the data down to the conference room’s main display.”  The holographic projector in the center of the table flared to life and a graphical display of the unknown ship’s approximate shape and power curve appeared.  “What the hell is that?” Blake wondered aloud.  
  
“I don’t think either of us are going to be keeping either your Terinu, or ours,” Rufus said softly, as Leeza felt her blood run cold.  
  
“You know that design?” Blake demanded.  
  
“Oh, yeah,” Leeza said.  “It’s a warship.  The last time we saw ships of that type, they were escorting a cannon ship to attack a Creo asteroid colony.”  
  
 _Message from lead ship being transmitted to us, Captain._  
  
“Pipe it through,” Blake ordered.  She cleared her throat and said, “This is Captain Leeza Blake of the Terran Federation.  Identify yourselves and state your intentions.”  
  
The image in the holoprojector changed, revealing a stern, golden eyed, reptilian face.  
  
“This is Administrator Oryon Gisko of the Varn Dominion,” the Galapados said.  “Please cease acceleration, power down your engines and weapons and stand by to receive our boarding party.”  
  
* * *  
  
Terinu paced back and forth across the floor of his cabin, wishing he could start tearing up the furniture to cut loose his frustration.  But Leeza had said, _Stay here and don’t cause a scene,_ so he was stuck in this cabin and had to keep quiet.   _Fragg “cabin”, it may as well be another cell,_ he thought.  Why the fragg hadn’t they had just cut and run instead of coming back to this ship?    
  
 _Lance could’a found his way out on his own._    But Rufus’ brother had been in a bad way and Terinu had to admit he was lot happier with his own twin in a nice tight cell.  If only Leeza’s double hadn’t been such a ram arse about Matt being stuck in there with his twin, he would’a been happy to stay right here.  
  
He figured that was what burned the most.  That bastard with his face was safe, with _his_ Matt.  Meanwhile the boy that Terinu had shared half of his life with was still stuck on their universe’s _Celestial Marauder_ and there wasn’t a fragging thing he could do about it.  
  
On top of all that, he was still trying to shake the horrible connection he’d shared with Rufus’ brother when he’d amputated the poor sod’s arm.  All that horrible pain, mixed in with the fear of _living_ and risking failure all over again.   _He wanted to die,_ Terinu thought.   _He’d wanted a nice, heroic death and I went and screwed it up for him by givin’ him an out._   He wondered if the Vulp would ever forgive him for that.  
  
There was nothing he could do.  He couldn’t fix Rufus’ brother’s arm, he couldn’t rescue his Matt, he couldn’t even leave this fraggin’ cabin without Leeza saying he could.  He was fragging _stuck._  
  
Well, it could be worse, he reflected.  At least he was in a comfortable cabin, unlike his twin’s cell.   _Nothin’ worse than being locked inside of a box, with no way out._  
  
The cabin’s door chimed and heard Leeza’s voice call out, “Teri, are you okay?”  
  
“If that’s really you and not Captain Stick-Up-Her-Arse, I’m all right.  Can I come out now?”  
  
“Uh, yeah, Teri, you can come out.”  The worried tone of her voice made Terinu’s spurs prick up and his tail rise in wariness.  He stepped away from the door and back into the middle of the cabin, leaning forward on the balls of his feet, giving himself as much room to maneuver as he could.  
  
“Open the door then.  I can’t do it from in here, remember.”  
  
“Right.”  The door slid back, revealing Leeza standing in the corridor.  Beside her was old looking human male, with grey eyes and wisps of white hair puffing out from his head, dressed in a dark grey and black robe with a golden DNA helix pin over his heart.  He hissed when he saw that behind them were a pair of Galapados warriors, armed with holstered pistols.  
  
“Teri, don’t fight them!” she said.  “Things are… a little strange right now.”  
  
“Hello there, young man,” the geezer in the robes said, smiling at him.  “You have no idea how pleased you are about to make my master.”  
  
Terinu glanced at the two scaly goons behind him and snorted.  “I got a good idea, I think.”  
  
* * *  
  
Matt curled up in his corner of the cell, covering his ears in protection as Terinu continued to rant.  The other boy had woken up about fifteen minutes ago, a little after the guards had moved Lance and Lance to another cell, and had been shouting hysterically ever since.  
  
“This is all _YOUR FAULT_ , Matt!” Terinu shouted, pulling forward as far as he could against the cables binding him to the wall.  “Why the fragg couldn’t have _LISTENED TO ME?_ ”  He banged his head against the wall’s unyielding steel, trying vainly to dislodge his inhibitor collar.  
  
“Teri, it’s not that bad…”  
  
“Not that bad!  Don’t you get it?  We’ve lost everything!  Chan is dead!  There’s no one to protect us!  The fraggin’ GSA is gonna sell us to some corp to crack rocks in an asteroid mine, or muck out toxic waste in a chem plant.  But it woulda never have happened if you’d just _DONE WHAT YOU WERE TOLD_ and not talked to anybody.  But no!  You had to listen to that bitch’s sob story and let her out of her cell.  If you hadn’t done that, Chan wouldn’ had any reason to stick you in the brig!  She wouldn’ told me to try and kill you!  And then I wouldn’ had to _BLOW HER FRAGGIN’ HEAD OFF!”_   He thrashed against his restraints again, hissing in anger.  
  
“Yeah, great life we had on the _Marauder_ ,” Matt finally snapped back  “If Brooks hadn’t tried to kick the sh*t out of me last year, you wouldn’t have blown _his_ head off either and nothing would have changed.  I’d be working for Cookie and you would have been still mucking out the waste traps.  We’d be happy little pirate slaves, instead just prisoners!”  
  
“You stupid, oversized, blond idiot!  They’re gonna take you away from me!  I won’t be able to _PROTECT YOU!_ ”  
  
“Protect me?   _Protect_ me?”  Matt stood up, angry, hating himself because for all of Terinu’s selfishness he could still see the fear behind his once-a-friend’s eyes.  “Maybe I never wanted to be protected, Teri.  Hu?  How’s that sound?”  
  
“Shut up,” Terinu muttered, hands clenching around his restraining cables.  “You’re an idiot, you don’t know anything about how stuff works.”  
  
“I don’t _want_ to be protected by you, Teri,” Matt said, every verbal thrust making Terinu flinch.  “I _never_ wanted to be protected by you.  I don’t want to _be_ with you anymore!”  
  
“Shut up!” Terinu hissed.  “You don’t mean that, you don’t know nothing’, so just _shut up!_ ”  
  
Matt felt his face grow heated, the blood pounding in his head.  “No, not this time.  This time you shut up, Teri.  For once in your fraggin’ miserable life would you just _sit down and shut up!_ ”  
  
Then, to Matt’s astonishment, Terinu did just that.  The Ferin boy sat down on the floor, tail lashing, spurs back, his mouth clamped tight, eyes wide in absolute terror.  
  
“Terinu?”  The Ferin boy kept silent.  “Terinu, talk to me, what are you doing?”  
  
Terinu swallowed hard.  “Sitting down and shutting up.”  
  
Matt blinked.  “Why?”  Terinu lowered his head and stared at the deck, breathing heavily.  “Terinu, tell me why?”  
  
He answered, his voice strained.  “Because... because you told me to...”  
  
Matt's mind flashed back to the awful, chaotic scene when Lady Chan had confronted them during the second escape attempt.  Brushtail's brother lying semi-concious on the floor, Terinu's hands at Matt's throat, the Ferin boy looking as scared as he did now, his Bion starting to burn Matt's throat, as Mavra lorded her control over him.  And Terinu's twin, screaming.  
  
 _You're always have a Master, but you can choose who they are!_  
  
“Oh,” Matt said, feeling giddy.  “Oh...”  He felt a weird, wild grin cross his face and fought the urge to laugh.  
  
Terinu, still staring at the deck, clenched his jaw, then opened his mouth, the words coming out as if he had to fight for every one of them.  “Matt...  please... don't...”  
  
“I told you to shut up.”  
  
Terinu's jaw clamped shut again.  
  
“Stand up.”  
  
Terinu stood.  
  
“Look at me.”  
  
Terinu's eyes locked with his, still wide with fear over this revelation.  His spurs were still down and his tail flat on the floor.  He looked more vulnerable than Matt had even seen him before, even after one of Brooks' beatings when Matt had carried him back to his cabin, tended his bruises and held him tight.  
  
“You can't hurt me anymore,” Matt said with wonder.  He cleared his throat and said with more authority.  “I _order you_ not to hurt me anymore.  Never touch me without permission, ever again.  Do you understand?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“'Yes', what?”  
  
Terinu swallowed hard.  “Yes... Master.”  
  
“Never hurt anyone else either.  Um, unless they're trying to hurt you first and you need to defend yourself.”  
  
“Yes, Master.”  
  
Matt nodded, then said, “Don't move.”  He walked over to Terinu and reached out, his hand brushing the younger boy's cheek.  Terinu didn't even flinch, though his eyes were now the size of spotlights almost and his breath was coming hard and fast.  
  
He let his hand drop down to Teri's chest and let it sit there, over the boy's heart.  “I'm not you, Terinu.  I'm not going to make you stay locked up in your cabin all day except for your duties.  I'm not going to hurt you when you get out of line.  I'm never going to...”  He swallowed, suddenly ashamed, and let his hand drop away.  “Okay, that's enough, you can talk and everything now.”  
  
Terinu fell back against the wall, slumping down to the floor, eyes closed, tears running down his cheeks.  Matt stepped back, giving him room, dropping down into a squat and trying to think.  
  
“Hello, boys.  Am I interrupting something?” a voice said.  They both jumped up again, turning in its direction.  Standing outside their cell was an elderly woman in dark grey and black robes, a golden pin with a DNA helix over her heart.  Her face was dark and wide, and she was smiling slightly.  Behind her were two... well, Matt wasn't sure what they were, aside from tall, green, scaly and armed.  She touched her hand to her lips, looking at Terinu in something close to wonder.  “Oh, they weren't kidding, there are two of you on board.  I could cry, its been so long since I've seen anyone like you, son.”    
  
She motioned to one of the lizards, who nodded and touched the door controls.  The cell opened and she stepped inside, still looking at Terinu.  “I've been informed that you're rather feral, young man.”  
  
Terinu hissed, some of his aggressiveness returning.  “Who the fragg are you?”  
  
Her eyes grew wintry.  “Oh, no one important these days.”  
  
“What do you want?” Matt asked.  
  
“Oh, I want your friend, young man. Or rather, my master does.  You can both come with me though.  I'm sure he's going to be delighted to meet you all.”  Another motion to the lizards and Terinu's restraints were unhooked from the walls, though they left the cables connecting his wrists and ankles on.  
  
“Um, you might want to leave those on him,” Matt cautioned, then said to Teri, “Sorry.”  
  
Her eyebrows rose.  “If you think so.  Come along boys, there's someone who has been waiting to meet you for a very long time.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Hail, hail, the gang’s all here,” Leeza muttered to herself, earning a dark look from Captain Blake, who was sitting across from her in the Galapados transfer shuttle’s passenger cabin.  Terinu and Terinu were also glaring at each other, though Matthew was sitting next to his universe’s Ferin with much less anxiety than before.  Lance and Lance were there as well, having been released from their cells at Leeza’s urging, over the loud objections of Captain Blake, with the simple argument that they were friends of Terinu.  This seemed to be enough to satisfy the two elderly humans that seemed to be in charge of the Galapagos boarding party.  Finally, Rufus sat alone in a seat, his brother being in no condition to leave the sick bay of the _Suyahar_ just yet.  
  
 _And who are you two?_ she wondered.  They hadn’t bothered to introduce themselves, except to tell them that everything would be explained on board the Galapagos fleet’s flagship.  The elderly woman in particular was bothering her greatly.  She was a native Australian, going by her features and her accent, and Leeza couldn’t shake the feeling that she aught to know who she was.  
  
The last of the Galapagos warriors boarded the shuttle and it soon released its docking clamps, jetting over to the flagship.  Captain Blake glanced in Leeza’s direction and asked softly, “You’re certain these Galapagos are a product of the Varn Dominion?”  
  
“Yes, Gisko in particular is the general of their army in my universe.  They were designed to be warriors, genetically engineered to be loyal to the Dominion.”  
  
Blake shook her head.  “The Varn Dominion.  I’m still not sure I believe it.”  
  
“Dad does,” Leeza told her.  “Ask him about them and there’s a chance he might even give you a straight answer.”  
  
Blake glared at her again, nodding towards the Terinus.  “And what do those two have to do with the Dominion?”  
  
“I think that’s going to be explained to us shortly.”  Perhaps it was wrong of her to keep the secret of the Ferin’s origins and purpose from Blake.  There was a good chance that the Gene Mage would want them both for the same purpose in Leeza’s universe, to jump start the Dominion’s power base.   _Frell, there’s nothing I can do to change what’s going to happen.  Let her find out on her own._   She supposed that she should be grateful that Blake hadn’t tried anything suicidally stupid, like destroying her ship to prevent her prisoners from being taken.  Apparently the Admiral hadn’t bothered to tell her exactly _why_ Terinu was such a tremendous threat to the GSA, which was fine by Leeza.   _Compared to dealing with my Evil Twin, I think I’ll take my chances with the Gene Mage._  
  
Except that she couldn’t damp down the nagging worry in her mind about exactly what _kind_ of Gene Mage they were going to encounter.  Leaving aside Lance, every one of their doubles in this place seemed to have taken a turn for the worse.   _The Gene Mage in our universe and in this one ordered the attack on the Earth that killed billions of humans.  What could he do that would be more heinous than **that**?_  
  
She felt the shuttle’s maneuvering jets fire, turning it on its axis and then shortly thereafter she could see a large shuttle bay swallowing their ship, before the landing gear came down and they settled on the deck.  Then there was a heavy vibration towards the rear as the bay door closed and then a loud whoosh as the entire hanger bay was pressurized.  The shuttle’s passenger door cycled open and another elderly human entered, this one a male of Arabic extraction, Leeza guessed as the alarm bells in the back of her brain started sounding a loud chorus.  
  
“Ah, good, everyone is here,” the Arabic man said.  He looked at the passengers, his eyes widening.  “Did we intercept a convention of identical twins?”   
  
The other old man, who’s accent Leeza now was certain was American, laughed and then answered, “Believe me, it was a surprise to us too.  Almost gave me a heart attack when I realized there were _two_ Ferin on board.”  
  
“He’ll be so pleased,” the Arabic man said, grinning.  He motioned to the Leeza and the other “guests”.  “Come along everyone, there’s someone who is quite eager to see you.”  
  
Captain Blake stood up, glaring at him.  “We’re not going anywhere until I get some answers.  Who are you people and what is your connection with the Dominion?  Why are humans working for the Varn?  You’re traitors to Humanity!”  
  
“Oh, we’re not traitors,” the American said, looking wistful and a little embarrassed.  
  
“That’s a very complicated question,” the Australian woman answered, seemingly unoffended.  “But if you come with us, all should be made clear.”  
  
Leeza stood up and placed a calming hand on Blake’s elbow.  “Let it go,” she advised.  
  
“But they’re…” Blake began.  
  
“Not traitors, I don’t think.  But I am pretty sure I know who they are.”  
  
“Who!”  
  
Leeza frowned at her.  “Figure it out.”  She, Captain Blake and the rest of their party exited the shuttle, bracketed by the Galapagos, with the trio of elders leading the way down wide corridors with tall, arching ceilings, so very different from the narrow, utilitarian corridors of the _Suhayar_.  
  
“Why did you intercept us?” Blake demanded, striding up next to the Arabic man.  “The GSA won’t stand for this, it’s an act of war!”  
  
“We meant no harm,” he replied.  “Courtesy of our friends the Ardactavians, we received reports of your upcoming mission to Bolt Hole to intercept that vile pirate’s ship and take the young Ferin.  When we informed our wise master of this, he was quite frantic that we reach Mavra Chan first.  As it happened we were unable to launch the mission on such short notice, but we did manage to reach your ships after you successfully rescued the child.”  
  
“This is not how we intended to announce ourselves on the galactic scene,” the elderly woman continued, “but we could not afford for the boy, boys rather, to be handed over to the same people that may have slaughtered the Ferin in the first place.”  
  
“What do you mean?  What are those alien boys to you?”  
  
“Redemption, in a manner of speaking,” the American man finished, looking quite sad.  “For you see, I think I was most responsible for their destruction in the first place.”  
  
“How could you possibly… be…”  Captain Blake looked at the old men and woman.  Really _looked_ for the first time, Leeza suspected.    
  
“’They’ve got a power source that…  well, I don’t know if I believe it or not, but it’s the weirdest thing you ever saw,’” Leeza quoted.  
  
Captain Blake, wide eyed now, began to sputter.  “You aren’t… that’s not possible.  You’d be over five hundred years old!”  
  
“The Varn are not truly gods, despite what our Galapagos friends think,” her ship’s namesake said with a smile, “but they have a most excellent health plan.”  
  
That succeeded in shutting up a stunned Blake until they went down a spiraling ramp and were ushered into the garden.  
  
That was the only way Leeza could describe it.  It was too large to be called an arboretum, and her engineer’s mind balked at calling anything housed on a ship a “park”.  The space appeared to open from one end of the ship to the other, taking up three entire decks.  High trees with wide, spade shaped leaves soared over their heads, reaching for a bright blue, holographic sky, while the ground was covered in gentle grass and flowering bushes.  Strange birds with long flowing tails darted overhead, zipping between the trees and singing strange alien songs.    
  
They followed a gravel path that curved around a sculptured rock outcropping, entering a sort of grotto that made a private space in the immense open habitat.  There, Gisko, wearing flowing robes similar to what the three elderly humans wore, motioned them to gather at the massive, green skinned, horned form that sat on his throne before them.  
  
“Our Wise Master, the Varn Gene Mage, ruler of the Varn Dominion,” he announced formally, sweeping them a bow.  
  
Terinu was the first one to ask the thought that had immediately crossed Leeza’s mind.  “Why does he look so old?”  
  
It was true.  The Gene Mage sat slumped in his high backed padded chair, his dark robes seeming to almost swallow him.  His face was as deeply lined as the three humans that served him, and his eyes were nearly closed.  Leeza realized with a start that he was actually asleep.  
  
“My lord,” Gisko said softly, touching his master’s shoulder.  “My lord, they are here.”  
  
“Mmm?”  The Gene Mage blinked and sat up, looking at them with rheumy golden eyes.  They fell upon Terinu and his twin and his forehead wrinkled in confusion.  “There are two of them?  With identical DNA patterns?”  
  
“Yes, Wise Master,” Ari Suyahar said.  “The situation was… vastly more complicated than we first believed.”  
  
“We will explain it to you at length, later,” Rachael told him gently.  
  
“Ah.”  With pained effort, the ancient Varn pushed himself to his feet, taking hold of a thick walking staff made of what looked like black iron that had been leaning against the chair.  He hobbled over to where the two Ferin boys waited, looking down on them with confusion.  His mouth opened, then closed.  Turning to Gisko, who was hovering at his elbow, he asked in a desperate tone, “Are they real?”  
  
Gisko bowed slightly to him.  “Yes, Lord Gene Mage.  They are as real as I am.  Both they and I are products of your vast wisdom, skill and patience.”  
  
“Ah.”  Gisko moved forward quickly to steady the Gene Mage as he kneeled down, reaching out to brush his fingers across the cheek of Terinu’s twin.  The boy looked terrified, but he withstood the touch, as Matt kept a steady hand on his shoulder.  “Why are you bound so cruelly, child?  Why is your beautiful tail spade so terribly mutilated?”  
  
“This is the Ferin who was held by the human pirate, Milord,” Mark Wilson told him.  “From what we have been able to gather, he was treated with vast cruelty during her years with her.  It has left him… undersocialized.”  
  
“I see,” the Gene Mage said doubtfully.  “What of the other?”  
  
Terinu, who had probably had more fear in him for his universe’s Gene Mage, rather than the elderly, sad figure before them, answered for himself.  “I ain’t from around here.  This rat next to me is me, if everything in my life was more screwed up than it already was.”  
  
“I… don’t…”  The Gene Mage shook his head.  “It does not matter.  My Ferin, my beautiful, sweet limbed Ferin are restored to me.  All is in balance once again.”  With Gisko’s help he rose to his feet again and made his way to his chair to address his guests.  “For this gift, there is nothing I would not be willing to give you.  Please, seat yourselves.  Let there be food and drink brought out to celebrate this wonderful event.”  
  
Leeza sat with everyone else in a semi-circle in front of the Gene Mage, on cleverly sculpted rock formations that served as comfortable chairs.  As Galapagos servants brought out the food, Lance leaned over towards her and whispered, “Lee, I’m not sure what his scarier, the Gene Mage looking like a mummy out of a bad horror movie, or the fact he’s acting so damned senile.”  
  
“It’s a trap,” Captain Blake muttered.  “They’re trying to lure us in, make us complacent.”  
  
Lance’s twin, who was sitting nearby, pressed his palm to his forehead.  “Lee, get a clue, would you?  If they want something from us, all they have to do is grab it, the boy included.  They don’t have to make nice to us to get what they want.”  
  
“There’s one thing I don’t understand.  From what we know of Varn culture, there appears to be little pity for the weak within it.  How is it that the Gene Mage has survived in this state and not been eaten alive by his contemporaries?” Rufus asked, drifting over after accepting a plate from a servitor.  It was filled, Leeza noted with surprise, with a perfectly human looking dinner of barbequed chicken with recognizable vegetables on the side.  Or maybe that wasn’t so surprising given the three notable individuals who had brought them here.  
  
“I think I can answer your questions,” Rachael Namatjira said, approaching them.  She seated herself cross-legged on a nearby rock, keeping an eye on the two Terinus, who were both wolfing down meals of fresh vegetables, while Ari spoke to them and Matt.  “I fear there aren’t any other Varn to worry about.”  
  
“What do you mean?” Leeza asked.  
  
“They are all dead.  Our Lord Gene Mage is the last one.”  
  
Captain Blake looked at her in disbelief.  “So what happened to them?  We know the Varn escaped us during the end of the Twenty Year War.  They couldn’t have all died of old age since then.”  
  
Rachael frowned.  “Oh, not of old age.  You see, the slaughter of the Ferin that was conducted by the rebels was quite thorough.  The only ones that were left were onboard the ship the remaining Varn were using to escape, housed in the ship’s power cell.”  
  
“How do you know this?” Blake demanded.  
  
“We were there.  The Gene Mage chose to take us with him during the final evacuation.  Even then he was still holding onto the hope of finding some kind of reconciliation with the rebels, though I fear he was the only one.  During the escape two things became apparent.  One, ship was being pursued with a vengeance by the rebels, permitting no chance to rest, and two, there were not enough remaining Ferin to maintain the normal cycle of service and rest that was needed to preserve their health.  They were being, quite literally, worked to death.”  Rachael’s face drew down in a frown, remembering.  
  
“The Gene Mage argued that it was necessary to find a safe hiding place, so his precious Ferin could recover their strength.  The other Varn, particularly Dream Stalker, disagreed.  They voted to keep running for the Ardactavian border at full speed, to cross into territory the rebels dared not enter.  When the Gene Mage, finding no allies for his plan, attempted to disengage the power cell and release the Ferin, the other Varn had him and his servitors confined to his suite.”  She paused, a dark expression falling over her face.  “Up until that point, I had seen him in many states of mind.  Gentle, arrogant, loving, condescending, he was as capable of as full a range as any other being.  But until then, I had never seen rage or fear.”  
  
“What happened to the Ferin in the power cell?” Leeza asked.  
  
“They died,” Rachael said flatly.  “When they had been... used up, Dream Stalker allowed the Gene Mage out of his suite, to allow him to salvage their DNA and clone their replacements.  Apparently the process of Ferin gestation is too complicated to allow for conventional cloning however, and so they couldn't be restored in that way.  So they were really dead, the entire race, thousands of years of nurturing on the Gene Mage's part, destroyed in a few short weeks.”  
  
“The Gene Mage was distraught at the thought of all of his precious Ferin being dead. Distraught and profoundly enraged.  He blamed Dream Stalker in particular for what happened.  He... he went a bit crazy I think.”  
  
“As opposed to now,” Lance said _sotto voce._   Leeza spared a moment to jab him in the ribs with her elbow before turning her attention back to old Rachael's tale.  
  
“So what happened to all the other Varn?” Captain Blake asked.  
  
“He engineered a virus,” Rachael said.  “You have to understand, they may have fancied themselves gods, but if they were it was of the Greek variety, with all the tendency towards backstabbing that implies.  So I think the virus was something he'd already had cooked up. It was supposed to, he said later, just kill her.  Instead it went wild throughout the ship and killed them all.”  
  
“Except for him of course,” Blake said, disbelief apparent.  
  
Rachael shrugged.  “Our Wise Master was not an idiot.  He'd set the containment seals in the ship's labs in place and sealed us all inside before he let the virus out.  When it became apparent that the thing had mutated during its years in storage and gone wildfire, he nearly opened the seals up again to try and help his kin, but we all ended up tackling him to stop him from killing himself.  Later he stayed inside while we went through the process of decontaminating the ship and disposing of all the bodies.”  
  
“Why the frell didn't you just let him _die_?” Blake demanded.  
  
“Well, for one thing the ship's navigation controls were locked to a genetic scanner, so only a Varn could alter her course.  We didn't fancy flying onward for fifty or a hundred years until her recycling systems broke down and we starved to death.  For another, we just pitied him at the point.  Losing the Ferin, and then realizing he'd just killed the remainder of his own race, _broke_ the Gene Mage.  For all the evils that he had perpetuated throughout the millennia, for all the dead children that were scattered across the Earth from the Mantle Cracker's weapon, we could not help but feel sorry for the sad figure he'd been reduced to.”  
  
Leeza glanced over to where the Gene Mage sat, asleep on his throne again, a half-eaten plate of food forgotten in his lap.   Gisko stood station at his right side, watching over his master, an apparently familiar position from the calm look on his lizard face.  “So his aging, is that part of the virus' effects?”  
  
“No,” Rachael said.  “Varn immortality requires a certain amount of preventive maintenance.  When the Gene Mage realized that the remainder of his race was dead, he elected to cease taking the necessary anti-agathic treatments to stave of the aging process.  As you can see, he's almost at the end of what would have been a normal Varn lifespan, before they altered themselves towards supposed genetic perfection.”  
  
“So what happens when he's gone?” Lance asked.  
  
“That will be the end of the Varn Dominion,” she said.  “What remains of it, mostly just the Varn databanks now, will pass on to the Galapagos.  He created them to be servants, when he realized that the anti-aging gene hacks he'd placed in my, Ari and Mark's DNA codes weren't going to hold out forever.  Instead they're going to be his successors, inheriting what the Varn had created.”  
  
“And what about the Ferin?” Leeza asked.  
  
“Ah,” Rachael said.  “That's a different matter.”  She gestured over to the two boys.   Terinu looking deceptively bored by the whole proceeding, hiding his usual caution behind a wall of cool bravado, Leeza suspected.  His twin, on the other hand, was looking close to catatonic again, having been exposed to a Varn and their overwhelming air of authority over their little grey servants for the first time.  “There is… _something_ … about the Ferin that requires a live specimen to make any hope of restarting their species even a possibility.  That one secret the Gene Mage has kept to himself, even as we helped him prepare the necessary equipment to begin maturing cloned Ferin embryos in the birthing tanks.  And the only living Ferin that have been seen in the past five hundred years are sitting right over there.”  
  
“That presents a bit of a dilemma,” Rufus said.  “I’m certainly not going to let our Terinu be handed over to the Dominion, and I’d hesitate before even giving his brother.”  
  
“I’m not handing either of them over,” Captain Blake said firmly.  “They both belong to the GSA.”  
  
“They both belong to _themselves_ , Captain,” Leeza said.  “Why don’t we talk to them about it?”  Not waiting for an answer, she stood up and walked over to where the boys sat.  Well, Terinu sat.  His twin was curled up into a ball, leaning against Matt, who was petting his hair gently.  
  
“Things didn’t go well?” Rachael asked Ari, having followed Leeza and the rest of the little group.  
  
“The young man seems overstressed,” he replied mildly.  “I’m afraid he isn’t ready to grasp the implications of his role just yet.”  
  
“What role?” Leeza asked.  
  
“Restoration,” the Gene Mage said, having woken up.  He hobbled over to the two boys, his eyes seeming a bit brighter, his stance straighter, though Gisko still hovered protectively beside him.  “Young ones, you have nothing to fear from me.  I only wish to restore your race.  Without your aid, it will remain lost, dead, thousands of years of effort stolen away by the forces of destruction.  With it, the Ferin shall live again.”  
  
“To get stuck in tanks to power up Galapagos ships instead’a Varn ones?  Thanks, but no thanks,” Terinu said defiantly, tail lashing.  
  
“No,” Gisko said.  “The Galapagos have our own sources of power.  Wind and tide serve well enough on our homeworld, as does fusion in space.  We have no need of the power cells of ancient pasts.”  
  
“What do you want us for, then?” Terinu's twin asked in a small, quiet voice, head still hung low, as Matt kept petting his hair.  
  
“I explained that, child,” the Gene Mage said.  “To give back what was lost to the universe.  Your uniqueness.”  
  
“And after?  What are ya goin' to do with all this uniqueness you'd cook up?”  
  
The Gene Mage tilted his head, in respect for the question.  “Afterward... I do not think I will be able to guide you.  Whatever path you choose, will be your own.  I simply… want you to _be_.”  
  
Terinu perched on his seat rock, sitting on his haunches, frowning at his broken twin and the broken Varn.  Finally his gaze turned towards blond human boy, twin to his best friend in the universe. “It’s your call, Matt.”  
  
Matt looked up at him in surprise.  “Not mine!”  
  
“Yeah it is.  Haven’t you figured out what you are to your Terinu yet?”  
  
“I…  how do you know that?”  
  
Terinu smiled.  “Out of everyone else in that cell bay, who else could it be?”  
  
“What are you two talking about?  Townsend has no say in this!” Blake interjected, to be met with a general call of _Shut up!_ from everyone aside from the Gene Mage, Gisko and Rachael.  
  
“But what are you saying?  Should we go with the Gene Mage?” Matt asked.  
  
Terinu shrugged.  “Ya wanna go with Captain Nuke-em-all, instead?  Ya can’t make it on your own, not yet, and I know we’d have a hard time protectin’ ya both in our universe.  Here, it looks like the Gene Mage and Gisko might be your best bet.”  
  
“Yeah, but…  You don’t understand.  I can’t keep Teri, my Teri, locked up like he is now 24/7.  And he needs... _help_.”  
  
“You won’t be doing it alone,” Lance’s brother said.  “I’ll help you out.”  
  
“Don’t be ridiculous, Lance.  You’re coming home to face charges,” Captain Blake said.  “You go with them it’ll be an act of treason.”  
  
Lance shrugged.  “I’m gonna get thrown in the poke for disobeying orders anyway.  Adding on treason wouldn’t be that bad.”  Leeza covered her mouth, fighting the urge to put her two credits in.  Really, it was amazing to watch the man politely dismiss all of his cousin’s demands, like a rock watching the waves try and drown it.  
  
For the first time, a look of genuine worry crossed Blake’s face.  “Lance, they’re _aliens_ , they’re the _Dominion_.  You go with them, you might not ever be coming home.”  
  
“Yah, that part I’m not too fond of.  Can’t imagine Mum and Dad will be happy about it, but I think they’d want me to be doing the right thing.”  
  
Blake’s voice became pleading.  “But Lance, what am I going to tell _Vonnie_?”  
  
“You may tell them that their offspring is now an ambassador of the Galapagos,” Gisko said smoothly.  “You do have the custom ‘diplomatic immunity’ still, do you not?”  
  
“Yeah,” Lance said.  
  
“Well then, we will need someone to represent us when the Galapagos choose to enter the larger galactic scene.  Having someone who knows the Gal Sapiens Alliance as a native would help us immensely.  If you are genuinely interested of course.”  
  
Lance brightened.  “Oh, that’ll work fine.  Thanks mate!”  
  
“I don’t believe this is happening,” Blake, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose, as if she had a terrible headache coming on.  “Well, at least we’ve still got the other one to give to Dad.”  
  
“No, I really don’t think that’ll do,” Rufus interjected.  Turning to Gisko and the Gene Mage, he asked politely.  “You do, I hope, only need one of the boys for your little project, correct?”  
  
The Gene Mage opened and closed his mouth, as if unsure as to what to say, but Gisko answered for him.  “I believe one will be sufficient, yes.”  
  
“Excellent,” Rufus said.  “Then I would like to ask you, as a noble of the House of Brushtail and a secondary member of the Council of Vulpine Lords, to give us a lift to the border of Vulpine territory.  After retrieving my brother from the _Suyahar’s_ sickbay and all three of our fighters from her hanger, if it is convienient.  From there we should be able to find comfortable accomidations until Leeza can use her scanner data to calculate where that damnable gravity anomaly is going to show up next.”  
  
“I believe we can accommodate your wishes quite easily,” Gisko said with a smile.  We'll disable their engines and communications gear as well, to give ourselves a nice head start.”  
  
The Gene Mage looked down on Matt and his Terinu.  “Young man, child of my skill, come with me.  There is much I wish to show you.”  Matt helped Terinu's twin to his feet and together, accompanied by Gisko and Rachael, they walked out of the grotto and into their future.  
  
“So this is how it ends?” Blake asked, sitting heavily on a rock, looking worn out.  “A third of my fleet destroyed, over three hundred casualties, my own cousin turned traitor and not one damned thing to show for it.”  
  
“Look on the bright side,” her Lance said.  “We killed Mavra Chan, cutting the head off the biggest pirate fleet in the Disputed Territories, and we've also got proof that the Dominion is no threat to either Earth or the GSA.  That ought to make Uncle Erwin a _little_ happy, don't you think?”  
  
The annoyed stare she returned was enough to shut her cousin up from further speculation.  
  
“What aout you, Terinu?” Leeza asked.  “Are you okay with everything?”  
  
Terinu looked away from the grotto's entrance, where Matt and his twin had dissapeared.  “Yeah, I guess,” he admitted.  “I wish I could have gotten my Matt away from Mavra, but at least one of them did.”  
  
“What about your twin?” Rufus asked in turn.  “You don't mind the idea of the Gene Mage taking him in?”  
  
“Better him than me. I think between Matt, Lance and the Gene Mage, he should toe the line pretty quick.  If not, I'll know where to find him.”  
  
“Seems so weird though,” Lance said, looking thoughtful.  “For all the messed up lives our doubles were living through, it turns it has a better shot at living peacably with the Dominion than we ever will.”  
  
“Everything balances out in the end,” Leeza said, “and when it doesn't, you find a way to tip the scales.”  
  
* * *  
  
“To absent family,” Rufus toasted, then touched his tea mug to Lance’s and sipped.  
  
“Hear, hear,” Lance agreed softly, leaning back in his seat in the open café in Vulpine Secondus’ Station’s main concourse.  He watched the people, the crowds of Vulpine and other sentients passing by for a few moments, before inquiring, “You going to be all right, Ru?”  
  
“Yes, I suppose,” Rufus agreed, leaning his chin on his hand and sighing.  “I know my brother is likely... more content... where he is.  I just wish I could have done more for him.  We’ve been flipping between universes easily enough, why can’t we go back in time as well and get a chance to set things right?”  
  
“Can’t choose a man’s path for him, mate,” Lance said.  
  
“Mmm, true.”  
  
The human took another sip of his tea.  “There’s something else on your mind, isn’t there?”  
  
“Someone else, rather,” Rufus agreed.  
  
Lance set his tea down.  “I can’t imagine it would be that hard to figure out where Melika is in this world.  Even if she isn’t at Madame Cher’s, all you have to do is contact her sister-in-law to find out where she went to.”  
  
“Oh, it’d be easy enough, I’m just not certain I want to.”  Rufus set his cup down, frowning.  “That’s the thing about this place.  It’s like our universe, but bent… _cracked_ somehow.  All virtue in our persons seem to have been reduced to dross.  Terinu becoming the monster our Mavra Chan wanted to shape him into, Leeza being molded by her father into the dutiful, obedient soldier-daughter, Matt warped from steadfast friend to cringing lackey, my own twin ground down from honorable noble to a wretch only seeking empty, soul destroying pleasures.  You...”  Rufus paused for a moment, and smiled wanly.  “All right, maybe the analogy doesn't hold completely.  But can you blame me for being a bit cowardly, and not wanting to find out the truth?”  
  
Lance nodded soberly.  “With all the pressures she was under in our universe, it's a wonder she didn't crack there.  Here.”  He took a reflective sip of his tea and shook his head.  
  
“Well, whatever her fate, may the Holy Den Mother's blessings be upon... her...”  Rufus' voice trailed off and he laid his cup carefully on the table as he stared openmouthed at the group coming down the concourse.  Lance turned in his seat to find out what caught his attention, to see Melika, dressed in a Vulpine noblewoman's finery, striding down the concourse towards them, an unfamiliar looking Vulpine male by her side, with a pair of energetic cubs looking about six and nine years old respectively tumbling ahead of them.  
  
Rufus got up out of his seat as they approached, saying, “Forgive me, madam, but you are the Lady Softpaw, are you not?”  He bowed formally to her.  
  
Surprised, Melika grabbed the shoulder of one of the cubs who threatened to keep barging ahead and replied, “Why yes I am.  But I fear you have the better of me, good sir.”  She looked him over curiously.  
  
“I am the Viscount Ru-ofanius Brushtail, at your service, Milady, and this is my friend Marine Lt. Lance Freeman,” Rufus replied, bowing again.  “Forgive my intrusion, but I always thought it good policy to greet another noble under House Brushtail’s aegis if I see them.”  
  
“Why thank you, Milord,” she said, then gestured towards the male beside her.  “This is my husband, Rolas, and these are my children, Teria and Sam.  Children, say hello to Lord Brushtail.  The cubs gave him a bow and a curtsey respectively, along with a bright “Hello, Milord!”  
  
“Rolas, be a dear and keep the cubs occupied while I speak to our lord and his friend,” Melika asked.  Her husband nodded and gathered up their children, vectoring towards a sweet shop across the corridor.  
  
“What brings you out here, if I may inquire?” Rufus asked, once they had left.  “I wasn’t aware that the Softpaws had any holdings on Vulpine Secundus.”  
  
Melika nodded.  “Not currently, but I’m on a bit of business trip on behalf of my sister-in-law’s farm on Alevela Prime.  She’s considering exporting drezil to here, and I was sent to sound out the markets.  It seemed a good opportunity for a little family sightseeing as well.”  
  
“Ah, I see,” Rufus said, then added carefully, “I’m glad that you are doing well.  I thought I heard a rumor or two a few years ago that your family’s holding on Alevela was having financial difficulties.  Forgive me for repeating gossip.”  
  
Melika’s face turned grim.  “A little more than gossip, though I’m sorry that it seems to have escaped into the public air.  I dislike speaking ill of family, but my brother proved to be… less than suitable for the management of a large agricultural facility.  He did begin to run up a debt, but I caught it when I did an early audit.  My father arranged to have him moved to a less critical position in management.”  
  
“My apologies for bringing up such a sensitive subject,” Rufus told her.  
  
“Not a worry.  It’s all in the past now,” she replied, then looked at him curiously.  “I am happy to see that you are doing well.  Forgive me, Milord, but some of the most _appalling_ rumors have filtered back to Vulpine Prime about you.  Judging from your appearance I’m glad that they don’t seem to be true.”  
  
“Thank you, Miss Softpaw,” he said, smiling.  “Unfortunately, much like your tale, there is truth to the rumors concerning myself as well.  Amends are being made, but I fear that it will be some time before they are completed.”  
  
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, looking disturbed.  
  
“Please don’t be.  I fear all of my troubles I brought on myself,” he said.  “But it gladdens my heart to see that you are doing well.  I hope your family brings much joy to you.”  
  
“Thank you, Milord.  Good day to you.”  Looking a little confused, she gave him an acknowledging nod and then left to intercept her husband, who was emerging from the sweet shop with two very satisfied looking cubs carrying large bags.  
  
“Better?” Lance asked.  
  
“Yes, I suppose I am,” Rufus answered thoughtfully, staring at the retreating family.  “How strange, to think those children might have been my brother’s.”  
  
“Hey, don’t forget, mate, they might be yours one of these days.”  
  
“True.  Very true,” he replied, and sipped his tea.  
  
* * *  
  
Rufus stepped out of the autocab and onto the flagstones leading up the manor’s portico.   “Stay,” he told it.  “I won’t be long.”    
  
He looked over the brick and marble entrance to Brushtail Manor, meticulously recreated from architectural records that his ancestors had managed to keep hidden during the Varn Dominion’s wholesale demolition and reconstruction of Vulpine Prime’s cities during the Time of Subjugation.  Much of the past five hundred years in turn had been spent yanking down the Dominion’s architecture and replacing it with styles more suited to Vulpine sensibilities.    
  
The hand carved double doors featured heavy brass knockers shaped to the resemble the heads of snarling grass striders.  Surely it was only his imagination that the heavy bang they made when he brought one down echoed all the way back up into orbit.  
  
 _This is a mistake,_ he thought as he waited before the thick wooden doors.  It would have been more sensible to just handle things over the comm.  Better, just quietly deposit the two credit transfers in his pocket to their waiting accounts and not say a word.  More sensible indeed.  Also more cowardly.   _Face them, you fool, if only to end things and move on._  
  
The doors opened.  Whitebrow, the family’s chief bodyservant since Rufus was aware enough to notice him, stepped out and bowed to him.  “Welcome home, Master Ru Ofanius.”  The old fellow’s sense of _sang froid_ must have been coded into his DNA, for he made no reaction at all to either Rufus’ careworn appearance or his right shirt sleeve, which was pinned up neatly against his shoulder.  “Shall I take your bags from the cab?”  
  
“That’s all right, old boy.  I won’t be staying long.”  He glanced uncertainly inside.  “Er, is Mother home?”  
  
Before Whitebrow could answer, he heard Bethany’s voice call from inside and his heart turned over in his chest.  “Whitebrow, who is at the door?”  
  
“Master Ru Ofanious, Milady” the old servant answered.  
  
Well, there was no backing out now.  Rufus braced himself and stepped through the doors into the manor house's entry hall.   Bethany was just stepping through the door from the eastern wing, dressed in the style of a proper young noblevixen, wearing a split skirt dress in the House's colors and with a garland of dried flowers circling her ears.   _Holy Den Mother, she was just a gawky teenager when I left home seven years ago.  Where did this young lady come from?_     
  
She let out a cry of “Rufus, it's you!” and rushed over to him, skirts flying.  She stopped just short of an undignified collision, her mouth still open in surprise.  “Oh, it is you!  It is you!”  
  
In the face of that undisguised delight he could not help but smile.  “Yes it is, Beth.  How are you?”  
  
“I'm just fine, but...”  The delight fell from her eyes, replaced with shock.  “By the Holy Den Mother, Rufus, what happened to your _arm_?”  
  
“Oh, I just had a little argument with a pressure door,” he said.   “Oh, oh don't cry, Beth.”   He wrapped his good arm around her shoulders as she hugged him tightly.  “It's not that great a concern.  The Den Mother gave me two for a reason, eh?  Just in case I needed a spare.”  
  
“But what happened to you?” she demanded, letting go of him.  “Rufus, you look so different from the last time we talked.”  Politely, she didn't expand on this description.  He had lost another five kilos in the sick bay just from being semi-concious on pain drugs and being fed through a glucose tube for several days, never mind the very suddden weight loss when that poor Ferin boy had amputated his arm.  Added to the general air of seediness and dessication he'd acquired over the years and he was a far cry from the clean cut, upstanding appearance of his brother from that other universe, whom Beth had seen during that comm call.   _I'll bet I look like something a Morrow Wolf hunted down and then spat out for being too stringy._  
  
“It's all very complicated, Bethany, and I'm not sure I can explain the reasons why without sounding like an utter madman.  You spoke to me, but it wasn't exactly _me_ that you spoke to.”  
  
“Ru, that doesn't make any sense.”  
  
“I know, I'm sorry.”  The doors leading the main part of the house opened and he stiffened in surprise as his mother entered, along with Whitebrow, who had politely faded out of the room to apparently find her while Rufus and Bethany greeted each other.  
  
“Hello, Ru Ofanius,” she greeted coolly, unreadable, no hints of either warmth or anger on her face.  “You should have called ahead.”  She didn't show any of Bethany's shock over his appearance, Whitebrow probably having given her fair warning.  
  
“Hello, Mother,” Rufus greeted in return, giving her a polite bow.  “I'm sorry about that, but until the cab actually drove onto the grounds I wasn't sure if I was going to have the courage to walk through those doors.”  
  
She nodded fractionally  “I see.  So what brings you here?”  Well, he hadn't expected wild enthusiasm from her about his unexpected arrival, but his cool politeness of hers was disconcerting.  Was he welcome here, or would it be wiser to just get things over with and make a dignified retreat?  
  
“Well, ah, actually, I've got some things for you and Bethany.”  He pulled the two voucher cards from his vest pocket, handing the first to his sister and the other to his mother.  “There, that is a full repayment of the credits you loaned me, dear Bethany.  Mother's is a start on the amount I owe to the House proper.”  A very large amount, he thought ruefully.  Still, he would find a way to pay it, all of it.  
  
“When did _you_ loan Ru Ofanius money, Bethany?” Mother asked, her face darkening.  
  
“Don't be angry with her, Mother.  It was done for a good cause and full payment has been made,” he told her.  “Given that the amount she gave to me from her own funds was a far higher percentage than what I had...” _Borrowed, stolen, wasted..._   “...taken from the House finances proper, I thought it best to pay her back first.”  
  
“But how?” Bethany asked.  “The last time we talked you made it quite clear that you wouldn't be able to pay me back.”  
  
“Yes, well.”  He cleared his throat and stared at the marble floor tiles for a moment, feeling a pain run through him that had nothing to do with the fading medication he'd taken this morning for his aching shoulder.  “After.... after selling the _White Knight_ I had a rather comfortable amount of money in my accounts.”  
  
Bethany's mouth opened in shock.  'But Rufus, you loved that fighter of yours!  How could you sell it?”  
  
Rufus shook his head.  “It was a machine, Bethany, just a machine.  I placed... too much value on it.  I won't claim that I won't miss her, but she should not have had a hold on my heart greater than the one my family had for me.”  Still had?  Perhaps.  “Well, anyway, I should take my leave of you now.”  
  
“Leave!  But you've only just arrived!”  
  
“Yes, well, I'm sorry.  You see, I've got to find an apartment in town, and then set up a  doctor's appointment at the local clinic.  The first of a great many doctor appointments, I fear.”  
  
“Don't be ridiculous Rufus, your place is here,” his mother said firmly.  “I'll have Whitebrow open up your rooms.”  
  
Rufus blinked.  “You kept my rooms for me?”  
  
“Of course we did.  Did you think we wouldn't?”  
  
“Well, yes, I certainly wouldn't have blamed you.”  He shook his head.  “Mother, I must warn you,  I have a great many problems besides my missing arm that have to be dealt with.  I will in all probability be very short tempered, whining, and quite objectionable to live with. I will not, in other words, be good company.”  
  
His mother gave him a short nod of aknowledgment.  “Perhaps not.  Nevertheless, you will be here, part of our House, as you should be.”  
  
“Oh,” was all he could say, as Bethany gripped his hand and smiled in delight.  
  
“I'll have Whitebrow get you bags from the car.  Dinner is at the usual time.  Please don't forget to dress properly.”  
  
“Yes, Mother.”  
  
She leaned over to buss him gently on the cheek.  “And welcome home, Ru Ofanius.”  
  
“Thank you, Mother.”  
  
The End


End file.
